A New Beginning
by TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryMorons
Summary: AU. Naruto runs away from the village at age 7. Itachi also killed his clan this night. One finds the other and they join the Akatsuki. For the next 7 years he will become a perfect weapon. Until he's betrayed again. No Yaoi. Contains a smart Naruto!
1. Join us

Alright, time to take a old subject to use as my own, but Its my favorite.

Itachi: And pray tell why you simpleton?

Because we get to see some misadventures and to show a different side to the Akatsuki and-wait a minute. HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE?

Itachi: I'm only making sure you don't crap up my character too much. I have a image to uphold.

Right. Plus I dont own Naruto.

Itachi: Heh, if he did, then Naruto would already be in the anime graveyard.

...

Ch.1 Join us.

A young boy ran down past the dark streets of the city holding a broken (left) arm at his side, covered in blood. He never looked back but he heard _them _just as close as a few yards away. "There he goes!" "Get the demon!" "Kill it! Kill it!" came the voices of 50 villagers. The young boy, Naruto, was very scared and running out of breath as he headed to the village gates. All the time he was thinking 'Why do they want to kill me? What have I ever done to them?' And had to fight back a new surge of tears while questions he could not understand ran through his head.

While the boy made it out of the city, 2 anbu watched it all from a nearby rooftop. One with an eagle mask almost jumped down to help the boy and to take him to a hospital, but the other with a cat mask stopped him. "What are you doing? We need to help that child!" "Quiet. He is of no concern of the moment." "_At the moment?_What is more important than saving a life of a innocent?" The cat mask turned to his comrade and said, "You do know he has the nine tailed demon inside of him? Besides, not to long ago, I received word that one of our own killed all but one member of a clan." "You can't be serious! Who was it?" "Itachi Uchiha. He pretty much wiped out all of them in their sleep." "Hn, not even a half an hour and my reputation already precedes me." The 2 unfortunate Anbu turned in time to see 2 blood red eyes mutter "Tsukuyomi."

…

Naruto made it out of the village and ran into the nearby forest away from the beaten path (and where the villagers would have a hard time looking) until he collapsed from exhaustion in a clearing, tears running down his face (although this did not come from any physical wound) as he thought if the villagers where right. 'Did I really kill people? No, but why do they call me demon? Because I have no family or friends other than the old man Hokage and Iruka-sensei? Why did they almost kill me?' With this, the child wept himself to sleep.

The next day…

With a stir, Naruto awoke to the smell of cooking fish and a bandaged arm. 'Wha?' "I see you have awoken." Said a voice behind him. Naruto quickly turned to find its owner, a teenage boy whose face made him looked much older with black hair, a ponytail, and Anbu grade field uniform. "Who are you? Your not going to take me back to the village…are you?" The man chuckled a bit as he sat near a fire tossing in some wood. "No, I wouldn't as I may guess the reason you left was related to your arm. My name is Uchiha Itachi." "Uzumaki Naruto…but why did you help me? If I'm a demon, then you should of killed me." "I could, but in the meantime eat, and tell me why you didn't seek help." "No one would of." "That's too bad." "I'm just so confused and angry. What did I do?" Itachi looked at the 7 yr. old with amusement. 'So, the demon container distrusts those from the village, and is _possibly_quick to trust those who are kind, even in appearance. It will be easy to take him to the Akatsuki now without more killing and maybe I…'

"Listen Naruto, I'm going to tell you a secret that you will possibly find out eventually. You are not the demon, only its container." "So that means they were right?" "No, no. They where mearly some fools who couldn't find their way past the immorals of a illusion they thought as truth. You and the demon are separate beings." Itachi finished seeing a confused look on the boy. "So they judged be because of that? Did the old man and Iruka-sensei act nice because of my demon?" "I cannot say for sure ('As I know the hokage keeps things to himself at times')."

Naruto took this in that every one he knew lied or hurt him more than once. "Itachi," he said, gripping his fists so tight the knuckles turned white. "I want revenge. As long as I could remember they harmed me. I vow on this day that Konoha has created a demon, not birthed one. I will kill those who appose me, or show them what its like to suffer!" Itachi clapped at this speech and added one thing "You should not harm those who wont harm you. To show that sense of justice is to prove you are not a complete demon. So Naruto, I think you would be perfect to join us." "Who?" "A group called the Akatsuki. We are looking for powerful nin to help us, and you have the makings of just that. Our organisation in fact is more like a…family. Do you wish to join?"

Naruto was speechless. No one has offered him to be part of a family. As he started to cry, Itachi just sat there with a raised eyebrow. And then Naruto ran forward and hugged him, completely catching Itachi off guard. "Itachi? Can I call you nii-san?" "Fine, and Naruto?" "Yes?"

"Can you let go?"


	2. Filler Episode! Maybe

Wow, people actually read this!

Itachi: I know! They have no idea on the disappointment your about to bring.

Your sarcastic remarks are not appreciated.

Itachi: I know. There adored by all!

Anyways, enjoy, I don't own Naruto, and please read and review!

Itachi: Yes, hes too impatient for the flames that will come.

No flames! But anything to help my spirits or the story is very welcomed. I am new with this.

Itachi: Yea, its too apparent.

...

Ch.2 Filler Episode! Maybe...

Itachi and Naruto started their journey to the hideout that was located in high mountans. "Naruto, there must be a few rules I should tell you before we get there. 1: don't call me nii-san (older brother) in front of the others. In this organization, appearances are everything. If you show them the anger you possessed earlier, you will fit in fine. 2: Because your not a ninja, you must be trained. And by who is me. Of course, if the others are impressed, they might teach you a thing or two. This leads to rule three: there's going to be constant diligence. If you slack off in training, or disobey a order, the consequence will be brutal." He looked at a silent Naruto to see his eyes wide with fear, probity thinking along the lines 'I had a better chance with the village.' "Err, don't worry otouto (younger brother), well try to work at your speed and work out any problems that will occur. The final rule is that unless you must, try and stay out of the others way. The word patience is not in their vocabulary." "How many others are there?" questioned the boy. "Quite a few. When the time comes you'll meet them all."

The two walked in silence for a while until Itachi asked "Otouto, did you go to the ninja school yet?" "Of course, why do you ask?" "That way we don't start at the beginning." "Oh, right."

After some hours of walking…

The two finally made it to the Akatsuki hideout which looked nothing more than… "A cave? Nii-san, this is not better than a tree house (And tree houses are cooler…)." "Naruto, appearances are deceiving. Plus our group is hunted." "Wha…!! Hunted?" "We are missing nins for hire. Why else hide in a cave?" Once again, Naruto was speechless. Well, almost. "That's…that's…So cool!" "? Well I guess so…" "I mean, you guys go by your own rules and stuff, and being a outlaw makes you seem more dangerous, power full, mysterious…and all the fangirls-" Itachi almost choked on air after that last comment. "Otouto, you have a _lot _to learn in life, so because your so young, I'll give you one warning. Never say that word again." "Why?" "I'll tell you when your older."

And so, Itachi and Naruto entered with a awkward silence, until they reached the first doorway. "All right Naruto, I must talk with my peers to discuss your stay." "You mean, if I stay?" Said the boy with little hope now hes in rouge ninja terrotory. "No, remember the talk about the demon?" "Yea." Itachi smirked. "Than that is one of our many aces in the whole, so don't panic." "Sure thing ni- ugh, I mean, Itachi." "Good." And so he entered the room alone…

And there he stood in front of the shadowy forms of the other members. "Itachi Uchiha. Your 2 hours late. We thought you where caught and killed before you left the village." He and a few others laughed at that, but Itachis cold gauze sucked out all warm feelings from the room, making a few shutter. "Well, what took you so long? Encountered problems?" "No," replied the Uchiha, "although I have encountered and brought a demon vessel." "And you thought that would not attract suspicion?" The leader thundered. Itachi just stood there unfazed by the sudden outbreak. "It does not matter if so. The village wanted him dead anyways. Now, I heard that you wish to rip the demon from his body for your own uses?" "That is so." "So I request something different. I want to train him to be our living weapon." "Tell me why, and don't say that you relate to the boy. Otherwise we might think you be going soft." "Well, even if that was true, I would still have enough power and ruthlessness to kill you. Anyways, this is my request…"

Later-

Itachi walked out showing a small smile along his lips. That look was all Naruto needed to know he was in. "So Itachi, What now?" "Simple, I'll show you around, and tomorrow, we train."


	3. Next day

Here's another chapter that will show how evil Itachi really is.

Itachi: Pffft, no. He's only mad because of yesterday.

Everything you do to Naruto in this chapter is what you did to _me _yesterday!

Itachi: And it was just as funny.

Anyways, thanks for the (so far 2) reviews. I felt slightly better after Itachi brought me down. And I don't own Naruto.

Itachi: You do know the reviews are out of sympathy because your so pathetic, don't you?

...

Ch.3 Next day: Evil traning and Itachi and Kisame fight?

After walking through the labyrinth that was the hideout, the morning started on a sour note. Naruto, sleeping in one of the many extra rooms had woken up to brisk reality a.k.a. a bucket full of ice water. "Ah!" He was out of the bed and onto the floor in a crash. "3 seconds. Not to bad." Said Narutos nii-san. "I-Itachi! What was that for?" "Training." "I'm soaked to the bone in freezing water, so HOW WAS THAT TRAINING?" "Think if that was kunai or shuriken from a enemy ninja, you could be dead right now. One thing your going to be training for is to be aware of your environment while your unconscious, so well need to train your 6th sense." "You mean paranoia?" Said the soaked boy huddled in a towel." "Whatever helps you sleep at night." Finished the Uchiha, laughing his ass of in his own mind. "Now hurry up, I'm serving breakfast."

Quickly getting into the only extra clothes he had managed to find (a gift from his _nii_-san, which looked like a shrunken Anbu uniform…Wait, it was! Well, as long as it fits…) Naruto rushed down to the kitchen area, where Itachiand two others where eating. A blue fish man and another with a veil covering half his face, all of them wearing the same cloud pattern cloaks. The shark guy was the first to notice the youth. "So Itachi, that little brat right there holds the Kitsune? Scrawniest guppy I've ever seen." "Kisame, quiet. There is no need to-." "No, you shutup. Just because I was unfortunate to be paired with you doesn't mean you are leader of the 2 man group." "Kisame, drop it." Said the third guy. "If your thinking of beating the crap out of each other, do it outside." "You know what Kakuzu, that's a great idea. Meet me outside in 20 minutes, Uchiha, and I'll show the Akatsuki that your not cut out for this group after I rip off both your legs." And so the two guys got up and left.

Naruto walked forward to the table, face utterly confused. "Itachi, what just happened?" Stretching a bit, he said, "Appearances are everything. We were partnered up as soon as I arrived, and upon hearing of you, he didn't think I was the strong ruthless killer that I said I was." "So what now?" the kid asked while starting on some scrambled egg that was saved for him. "What else? I have to put him in his place. And Naruto, you may want to run to the bathroom now." "Why…?" "Our traning is not done. Lesson number 2. To be aware if the enemy poisons your food." "You poisoned me?!" "If laxatives a poison, than yes." And in a flash, Naruto was off to the toilet. Itachi casually followed and leaned against the locked door to say, "The antidote is on the sink if you think you can get to it." Poor Naruto only moaned out "Itachi, I hate you." "In order to overcome this training, you and I have to continue doing it; even if it means hating each other, if that's what being an elder brother means. And for not being aware enough, this will be your punishment. Don't forget to clean the toilet bowl afterwards. And maybe a courtesy flush or two."

And so Naruto used all his might to grab the savior bottle, and the fast acting cure did its job. It was this day Naruto also pledged to get back at Itachi for this child abuse.

14 minutes later…

Itachi and Kisame stood out in the middle of a field ready to fight, then they were off. "Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique!" Using the moisture in the air, Kisame sent a water shark to Itachi, only to be dodged at the last second by jumping over it. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique." It landed to be a direct hit, with, Kisame soaring through to Itachi pulling his unique sword off his back. Using it, he struck the Uchiha on the side, cutting right through. (Poof, _**LOGGED.)**_

__'Replacement-.' Kisames thoughts where cut short as his opponent was right behind him holding Kisame upside-down to his head facing the earth. "Falcon Drop." And the fish man found himself in the dirt. "Kisame, now you will learn to respect your betters, as I didn't even use the Sharingan." Turning, he was about to leave until the others voice called out "Not…Yet…" With a sigh, Itachi turned around and saw Kisame standing, using the Samehada (sword) as a cane. "I'm not done yet." Itachis eyes turned red. "And now you are. Tsukuyomi."

As soon as Naruto finished with cleaning the nasty, he saw Itachi carry the freaky fish-guy to a nearby couch. "Itachi, did you kill him?" "No. Its better for him to live now as if he will not fear me, he would at least respect me." "Wow, that's…slightly noble of you." "There's also the fact that we need as much members as we can get. For right now, he's indispensable." "I guess there will always be a reason." "And as for you Naruto, we should get to some real training." Naruto gulped. His instincts said this will not end well.


	4. 4 years later

Alright, this may seem slightly darker that the other chapters-

Itachi: Thats all I need to know that you screwed it up. I also noticed that there's a bump in the normal flow near the bottom.

Well, I tried to do something new, and if its that bad, I'm sure the people can tell me how to fix it.

Itachi: What ever man. I only see the start of a 'death by flame' by people who are smarter than you.

Any ways, I dont own Naruto, plus I lengthend this chaper by 2 requests.

Itachi: (Whispers) Go on, flame him. You know he deserves it.

What?

Itachi: Nothing. (Wink, wink.)

Ch. 4: 4 years later…

For each morning Narutowas met with a new form of unexpected 'training' from his nii-san. Although he learned his '6th sense' and dodged everything from glue traps, to pitfalls with ease (although there was the problem one of the _other _Akatsuki who would find the trap by accident), overtime Itachi became impressed. Of cource, this also ment his expectations rose, and so was the punishment for falure.

Things started hard enough as it was. It came from replanting the 2 acre garden alone to the impossible clean the whole hideout standing on one hand, so Naruto learned fast.

Then with traning, whenever Itachi was around, he taught Nauto the basics from chakra control (during this time Itachi learned that extra power was needed to use low level jutsu, and more higher levels where a bit easier because of the extra room to flow), and uses of ninja tools (this took longer as Nauto at the time couldn't hit the broadside of all of Konoka let alone the targets. As a example, Itachi was sitting behind Naruto when he tried, but after trying to show off, missed, the kuni got deflected back by a series of trees and birds, right into his nii-sans headband with the same amount of force.)

Of course, whenever the Sharingan user was away, this left Naruto to 2 options. Continue training, or plot revenge as he promised since his first day there. A few attempts was to 1: Pull the laxative trick on him, although Itachi must of saw this as Narutoended with the runs for the following week (strong stuff, eh?)

Attempt 2 was slightley more thought out. On Itachis scedualled bath day, Narutolined the tub with a special dye. After the deed was done, he quickley ran to his room until Itachi was done. And so, when he finally walked back to see the damage, his nii-san was sitting on a couch watching the other members laugh at a dark-pink Kasame. It took him 4 days to get rid of all the coloring. It was this point when Naruto stopped the revenge thing for a while, but on the bright side, he did get a cheap laugh.

Naruto also finally learned jutsu from Itachi when he passed the basics. The Shadow Clone Technique & Explosion, and the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. Kisame being vaguely impressed gave the Water Prison Technique (he doesn't use it much anyways).

…

Itachi and Kasame (who indeed learned to respect his partner) watched over Naruto as he perfected the water prison jutsu, until Kakuzucame with a message. "Itachi, Kasame, you just got a new mission. A extreamly easy C-rank but cash is cash. The job is to capture and return some academy dropouts who cant use ninjutsu, but exell in stealth." "Why couldn't their village ninhunt them?" "Most are to war with a few neiboringvillages, so the few that are at the village cant deal with such a trivial task." Narutos eyes shined at this. "Itachi," he started, "can I come too? I mean its kind of rare to get c-ranked missions, and now is the perfect time to try my skills in the field, so that all this traning doesn't go to waste." "Yeah. Hell, the boy should go by himself. He has plenty of Techniques at his disposal, and became a master of your training. Now he needs to put it into real use." Agreed Kasame.

Itachi sighed. "True, and such a mission would be a waste of our time… Very well. Naruto, you can go in our place. At this point, I think I can trust you." "Right Itachi! I won't let you down!" And he was off to meet the client.

…

Naruto walked to his client (a elderly man dressed in old rags, although his eyes chilled the boy to the bone). "You're the one who will take my request?" "Yes, and do not worry about failure. I have been trained by the best." "Ugh. Follow me then…"

…The two walked in silence until they reached the village hidden in the earth…

This amazed Naruto. A whole village dug inside in a massive canyon in the earth. "There are many paths and tunnels that lead to any where and everywhere here. I recommend that you try to not get lost." He laughed as he walked away.

"Well, lets get started. Shadow Clone Technique!" 5 clones poofed into existence and began the search.

…3 hours later…

Naruto laid exousted, and lost in one of the many tunnels. 'Damn it, this place is huge. I don't think I would ever find-.' He stopped himself after he heard someone. "Do you think he's gone?" Whispered a boy. "Ugh, I hope so." replied a girl. "I didn't think we would ever loose him." Naruto inched forward until he saw them more closely.

A scraggly thin boy with brown hair, his left eye bandaged and a scar running past his ear said, "The last thing we need is for anyone discovering our hidden scroll."

The girl (slightly chubby, black long hair, same age as Narutoand the other guy who was holding a small black scroll) added, "The other villages must have heard of it. That's why they started war with our village, right?" "O.k., what are you two talking about?" asked Naruto. "Epp! They found us! Lets-." "Your not going anywhere." Said a clone blocking the other side. "You know, the bothof you gave me hell to find. So whats with the scroll?" "Err…" Started the boy. "It was just stolen from a merchant…"

"Listen, tell me the truth and follow me." "Alright." Agreed the girl, "Although you may not believe it." "Try me." "Alright. You ever heard of the land of shade?" "No…" "Well me and my brother-("Yo" said the boy)-are descendents of those who lived there…

--Tall tale alert--

The land is located far, far off to the northwest, and is considered the birthplace of demons. Very few humans walked the earth there, but for those who did grew powerful beyond any of our comprehension. They were respected and feared by those lesser demons, so a silent truce was made between the 2 groups. They where allowed a village to call home if they arranged 20 sacrifices every 2 years. The humans overtime became tired of this deal over the course of 100 years, so they created jutsuto control and manipulate the shadows. Living in the land where there where months of darkness at a time, they became powerful enough for the great tailed beasts to begin their worries. So they did the logical thing. They started a killing spree. In the end, only a handful of people escaped with their lives, although how was never said.

--Tall tale end--

"And we of the descendants of these people who escaped near 10,000 years ago." Finished the girl. "Or close to it." Added the boy. "All we do know is that they came from a land of demons and they created the worlds forbidden jutsu, plus a lot more in this scroll. It was our best kept secret until now somehow." "Er, Naruto. We should start going now." Said the clone. "Why?" (_Boom!)_"That's why. We're in a tunnel that leads to outside the village, and a battle is starting overhead." "Why didn't you say so earlier?!" "I didn't know they were going to start a story!" (BOOM!) The dirt and rocks overhead started to shake with all the things happening above. "The tunnels going to collapse! Get out of here now!" They didn't needed to be told twice, so they ran past Naruto -Crash- to be crushed by the falling earth.

"NO!" Naruto and the clone dug out the body's to find that "They're dead." 'Damn I should of said something. Wait, the…' "Naruto, their scroll. We should give it to the kage of the village." The clone took one body, Naruto the other and they decided to search for the old man.

-After a long way around the exit path to not attract attention, Naruto found the employer.-

"Sorry sir. I failed my mission. I could not get them back alive."

"Whatever boy. You'll still receive your pay, but leave now."

'What? That doesn't make sense, to find these 2 children, only for him to not care if they died…' Naruto felt the scroll in his kuni pocket. 'Or was he really looking for this, and it wasn't the overactive imagination of the kids in the heat of battle looking for a reason to justify the action.'

"As you wish sir." And with that, Naruto took his payment and left (to hide nearby), and saw the man dig through the kids pockets. Apparently not finding what he wanted, he yelled and kicked the bodies down the cliff side. 'Crap! I was right. But this doesn't make sense at all. Nonetheless, mission complete.'

So all he could do was go home.

And when he did, he read the black scroll.


	5. A secret and the talk

Next chapter is up, and this one is full of awkwardness!

Itachi: Not as if your a stranger in that subject.

Oh, and Itachi, a fan fiction administrator alerted me that you tried to get people to flame me.

Itachi: I have no idea of what your talking about.

Right... Anyways, I don't own Naruto and sorry if some of the words stick together within the past chapters. I blame the transaction.

Itachi: With that, everyone try and enjoy the numerous faults of this morons story. I just dont get what you people see in this worthless tale anyways...

...

Ch.5 A secret and the talk.

Naruto looked at the black scroll…and it was blank. 'What?' He unrolled it all the way to its center, but it was all blank. Well, there was an old yellow piece of parchment at the end, but it was also blank. "…Heh…Heh…Ha, ha, ha, ha! I should of known better. (Sigh.) Only two battle stressed kids. Well, now at least this is the least of their problems." He got up and snuffed out the only source of light (2 candles) and was about to leave the room until a soft glowing green light caught his eye.

"No way, no way, no-." yup, it was the scroll. The paper was covered in the green writing with secrets only few knew. Naruto leaped at it like a cat to a mouse and read its contents. 'Demonic Soul Seal,Summoning: Impure World Resurrection, Living Corpse Reincarnation? Who whould want to put their mind in someone else's body? (Orochimaru sneezes). The boy quickly counted up all the forbidden jutsu… and there where around 50. "Wow. That's…a lot of jutsu…"

Naruto kept on reading in the dark (Yes, there's more) and found more surprises. The other half had jutsus to control the shadows and night itself! The problem was that for the big ones, it would take more chakra than a normal human can give. "Well, lets find one that wont kill me off the bat… Shadow possession jutsu… Good enough to start as any."

It took a near weak to practice it, and in secret before mastering it in his room. Of course, this lead to the suspicion from the others to what he was up to. At first, Itachi thought that Naruto was getting depressed for not going on more missions. That was until he snuck up on a locked door listening intently. "Ugh…Almost…there…Y-yesss!" Itachi just sat there eyes wide. 'Was Naruto… No it couldn't…Wait… When _did_ puberty start? Around that age? Did he ever get the birds and bees lecture? What gave him the _idea_?' While pondering this, the door opened to a sweaty Naruto, and Itachi quickly jumped to the celling to see his otouto jog to the bathroom. 'Well, its time for the talk.'

After a quick shower, Naruto walked back to his room. 'Well, I got better at my technique although it was to tiring to keep the shadow at 10 feet for 5 minutes. I think I'll take a nap.' And as soon as he entered, Itachi was sitting on a chair with his Sharingan on, and that was never a good sign. "Err, hi Itachi. What's going on?" Itachi sighed. "Well Naruto, when a man loves a woman very much he…" Naruto stood there, mouth dropped, face clearly disturbed.

"What the hell? Where did that come from!?" Now Naruto was mad. "Is this a sick joke of yours? Get a deranged kick by mentally scaring children with that talk?" "No no Naruto! What was I supposed to think with you locking the door for the past week with the lights off?"

"Oh that. Well why didn't you say so earlier? ('Ugh, now I'm going to need some mind soap.') "I was practicing a new jutsu out, not doing whatever your sick mind was coming up with." With those words a wave of relief washed over Itachi, eyes retuning to normal. "(Cough.) Well, what is the new move? Maybe I can help." "No thanks, its pretty much done. It's called the shadow possession jutsu that was…given to me by the client." "Alright Naruto. I don't like it when people lie to me-." "I'm not lying! Watch, Shadow possession jutsu!"

A pathetically small tentacle of shadow managed to wiggle out and shrunk back in almost instantly, but nonetheless was legit. This just made things worse for Itachi. "N-Naruto, do you know what this means?" "No…?" "It means that he must have been a Nara from the clan back at Konoha! They know your alive! Well need to leave now, join a far off village under new names! I suck at thinking up new names! I CANT TAKE THE PRESSURE!"

"Itachi, calm down! He said… It was a gift from a friend who got it from a travailing salesman. He just gave it to me because he couldn't use it." Itachi thought about it. 'Well, there is a few traitors to the leaf who would spill secrets to the black market, and a merchant picking it up to sell after a amount of time isn't impossible, just improbable.' "Alright Naruto, I believe you. But you better not lock yourself in the room again. And keep training yourself on that technique, It was the most pathitic anything I have ever seen."

"Alright Itachi. See you later." The Uchiha left and Naruto plopped himself on the bed checking the rolled up scroll that was under his pillow. 'That was close. From now on, I'll have to train deep in the forest while Itachi is away.' And with that, Naruto fell asleep.


	6. S Rank mission

4th of July, grandfather staying a few nights, and a writers block halfway through. Well, sorry for the wait everyone, but I stayed up till one in the morning to finish this, so you can just guess that there may be mistakes.

Itachi: And I'll be leaving soon.

...Really? THANK YOU GOD!!

Itachi: So I hired a replacement for my vacation.

What? Replacement? You also mean that you "going away" isn't permanent?

Itachi: Nope.

...I hate you. Any ways, I don't own Naruto, and I never will. One finial note, I have a page forum that I don't know how to use but feel free to use it to tell me what I'm doing wrong, pairings, ideas, ect. Thank you for for the cooperation and enjoy.

Ch.6

Next day…

"Take this! Shadow Clone Technique!"A few shadow clones surrounded Itachi whose eyes where wide in surprise of the speed as 2 clones formed a triangle with the original and used the shadow possession jutsu on their opponent and froze him in seconds. "I got you now, Water Prison Technique!" The original trapped Itachi in an orb of water. The two clones poofed out of existence as Naruto yelled the final command of his own: "Water prison: Implosion!" The water shot inward with amazing strength as Itachi yelped in pain.

Naruto stood there breathing heavily. 'I didn't know the techniques used in secession would be so tiring.' His nii-san lay in the mud for a moment before getting up and leaned against a tree. "Naruto…That was fast and cleaver." The two been training since morning and Naruto perfected his technique and a created few made up combos that worked perfectly with each other, with the only problem that they consumed a lot of charka.

"I know. Weird." They both laughed at the fact that the older of the two was caught off guard, but was cut short as Kisame approached them. "As much as I hate to ruin your fun, I remember that we have a job in this group. A S-rank mission effective immediately." "What are the details?" "Assassination of a rouge ninja of the village hidden in the stars." "Crap." "It gets worse. He is accompanied with 2 other nin from the village hidden in the rain." "This mission is more or less a suicide task. Guess life really hates me."

Naruto, on the other hand asked, "Hey, can I join?" Kisame gave a growl as he heard that suggestion. "Is it not enough that I have to play baby-sitter to you brat, when I am here?" "Oh, shut up." Replied Naruto, "I never asked you to (and you never do), and I can hold my own against Itachi now ("Only because I was caught off guard!" he said in his defense), and I can always leave if things get to bad and alert another member."

"Naruto, this will be dangerous and your still too young. Others your age can barely handle B-ranked missions." Reasoned Itachi. Naruto wasn't going to have it. "First off, I know it's dangerous! It's the whole point of me asking. I want to prove my worth as a member of the Akatsuki and to show you that all my training wasn't a waste. And of course _others_my age can't handle b-ranked tasks because they haven't been trained by missing ninja of a deadly group _since age 7 till now_. And if I can't fight, at least let me watch from a distance to see how you do it."

"Hmm…No." Itachi finished simply. "Lets go Kisame." The 2 left (Kisame even gave a small laugh at Narutos disappointment) the demon container, to his disbelief. 'That's not fair! Itachi, you know damn well that I can hold my own in a fight. Well, he can tell me to stay here, but I don't have to follow his orders. After all, I'm not a official member of the Akatsuki yet, so I can still do what I want without him harping on me otherwise. True, I might be punished for doing so, but its better to do something than be useless.' So it was decided. Naruto quickly got some stuff, his scroll, and left.

It took a while for him to find Itachi and Kisame through the forest, but when he did, he made sure he kept quiet, until Itachi stopped.

Naruto straining himself heard Itachi say "Their close by. Be aware Kisame."

"Please, this wont be as hard as you think."

The two continued to a small camp, fire smoldering. "They were just here…"

And a kunai flew out of nowhere and lodged itself in Itachi's neck. "There's one down." A voice came from the surrounding forest. 2 ninjas walked out and where recognized as from the rain village. "Well this will be fun." Said Kisame, unfazed by his partner's death. The enemy caught it too, right as the body poofed (_**LOGGED**_) and fire came to engulf them. That was the plan, until a light purple…light came and protected them. "You two simpletons can't even protect yourselves. Your lucky that I still need you alive." "Sorry boss." Said the 2 ninja as their boss came from the shadows.

He wore a black gas mask and a standard battle outfit like the Anbu. Itachi appeared next to Kisame, sharingan active. "Kisame, I'll go after the target. You take care of the other nuisances." "Damn it Itachi, you always take the good ones. Fine…" And everyone was off.

Kisame and the 2 rain nin dashed off to one side as they begun their battle. "Hidden Mist jutsu!" They said simultaneously. As the heavy fog rolled in, Kisame just laughed at the pathetic opening move. "Stupid retards… What do you think about using this move against another water nin would accomplish?" "Ice rain technique!" The water of the fog solidified to icicles which where all directed and forced using charka strings. 'Damn, how did these morons come up with such a move? Still, a second rate technique from a second rate water village.'

"_Water Release: Water Dragon Projectile Technique_!" Taking all the water vapor in the air, Kisame quickly found the other ninjas and fired his jutsu, hitting both in one shot. "Now to finish you asses off. Now open wide and suck on my Samehada sword." And then he shoved the shark skin into both of their heads while dragging their body's along the ground before using the sword and momentum to discard the corpses into the wood. Relishing a small easy victory, the moment was short lived as he turned to see a surprise.

20 minutes earlier--

Itachi faced off against the target. "I will end this battle quickly. Tsukuyomi." The masked nin laughed at Itachi's strongest move. "That genjutsu won't work against me. My masks eyes are mirrored to negate such pathetic illusions. Now get ready. Beast-." He formed the seals, and his charka ruptured out of his back, which formed into a weasel, wolf, fox thing to rush at Itachi, but in turn used his sharingan to predict and doge the attack. "_Shadow Clone Technique, Shadow Clone Explosion_!"

A Itachi clone rushed to the star nins unguarded front and exploded. But the man managed to see this and blocked it with his charka, while at the same time controlling the energy beast. Itachi continued dodging as the creature came closer and closer until it hit its target. Upon doing so, it turned into a spear and impaled Itachi. "Argh!! DAMNIT!" He was pinned to a tree with that charka spear in his stomach as his adversary laughed. "I'm surprised you lasted this long, even with your bloodline limit. Yet in the end, you are just too weak."

"Itachi! Don't worry, your partners coming to save you. Star bastard, take this: _Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique_!" A water shark appeared and soared to the ninja, who only summoned another tentacle to swat the attack away as if it was a fly, and continued to Kisame to grab his neck, to choke out all his life. "NO! STOP!" Itachi heard that voice in the distance before falling closer to unconscious due to the loss of blood. "N…Naruto…?"

…

The star ninja withdrew his charka when he saw a kid run out of the forest to his nii-san. "Itachi! Don't die! Please!" "What are you doing here? How long…?" Itachi managed to mumble. "The whole time." "Naruto…run…" He finished before he blacked out. "No…No…You can't die on me…Nii-san!"

"Nii-san? You're his brother?" Questioned the ninja. "Well, best to kill you to so you won't try and get revenge." But Naruto wasn't listening. "You killed Itachi…My nii-san! And for that **I will kill you!**"

A red charka creped forth as the boy stood up over his fallen brothers body, scaring the star ninja. Naruto's whiskers grew more feline as his nails also became long and sharp. Then in a blur, he was gone. "Wha…?" Naruto appeared behind him and punched the man's back. Flying 30 feet, Naruto quickly dashed to the man's feet and swung him into some trees which shattered on impact.

Naruto walked up to the killer that laid in the ruins of wood. The boy teared off the guys mask off to see a horribly scarred man, truly scared. "You…You…WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?" "**Your executioner.**" Naruto said simply, before crushing the mans skull in.

…

Naruto dashed back to Itachi and Kisame after telling the few remaining Akatsuki members about what happened. Kakuzu looked over Itachis body and sighed. "Hes…Well…Er…Sorry Naruto." "What?" "He lost too much blood so…" "He's…Dead?" With a sigh, Kakuzu said, "Hes stomach has been torn, spine shattered, and the like."

"No…no…this can't be…" "Aw shut up. Hes fine. Hes only unconscious. I only said that so you realise what a dangerous game your in." "Wha?" As Itachis and Kisames unconscious body's where taken back to the base, Kakuzu told Naruto a truth. "As luckey as they, and you for the matter, was to survive, it was just as likely for you to be killed. That's part of life. Especially that of a ninja. Remember as soon as you place on your head band, you sign your own death warrant. To kill or be killed is part of the ninja way. And to developed relationships with others only makes things harder for yourself. Now stop your friggen crying, 'cause if he was to die, at least it was for a reason. Whatever he fights for is fueled by a belief, and to die by protecting it is the greatest honor you can achieve."

Nauto looked down. As much as Kakuzu was right, he didn't want to believe it. Then naruto saw the gas mask of his slain enemy. 'Did this guy also have his beliefs? Why were we to kill him if what we were doing was right?' Picking it up, Naruto found a note stuck in a flap near the forehead.

Unfolding it, it read 'Journal update:

Although I have been cast from my village to live life as a outsider, I regret nothing. My village became too unstable as debate over our treasure continues, and many cannot see that our youth is in peril. And so, my friend, his wife and I had to protect it. After 'hiding it' until future use, our kage ordered us to leave the village for our own protection. I trust that the star is in good hands, as I left for a new life. After a while of journeying, I have found 2 rain ninjas who also defected from their village after what I guess was result of a small civil war of beliefs. I plan for us to be ninjas for hire or to live peaceful lives as I have came to enjoy their company. Well, I also always wanted to see the world. Now I got a chance.'

'This guy only wanted to live peacefully? Then why did he attack us?' Then it dawned on him. 'Kill or be killed. To see other ninja look for you only leaves the assumption that…they were to kill you. Damn. The more I think about it, the more messed up this life is.'

Pocketing the mask, Naruto followed the group thinking up all his reasons to fight and live as a ninja.


	7. Some years later

(Taptaptap...) Damn! This chapter feels so rushed. (And just then, the doorbell rang) And now Itachis replacement. Life gets better and better. (The author walks to the door and answers to find no one.) ? Is any body there?... Guess not. (Shutting the door, he was greeted with a crash in the computer room. Dashing to the area he was greated with...A squirrel? Small, grey and donning glasses, he dug through layers of papers.)

Um, can I help you?

Squirrel: OhyesItstheguythatIwassenttobehired. I'mPillz-E,nicetomeetyouauthorguy.

...Thanks? So...Itachi sent you?

Pillz-E: Ohyes,justthathediddn'ttellmewhattodo.

No prob, I guess. I'll get you started soon. (I dont own Naruto.)

Pillz-E: OrNeuroticallyYours,aswhereIcamefrom.

...

Ch. 7: Some years later.

After the last S-Ranked mission, Itachi and Kisame healed quite nicely. After a week, they began training again, pressing themselves past their limits, including Naruto with his black scroll. After his last 'adventure,' he thought that if he was to be a ninja, he will protect those few who where precious to him. And to do that was to become more powerful. Also nowadays, once in a while he thinks he hears a voice in his head…

… In the middle of a forest…

"_Infinite Darkness Devastation!_" Blobs of a black matter, his shadow, floated up behind Naruto. "Attack." They shot off at speeds that where around 160 MPH as they headed through the forest, shredding the trees into bits. After the move finished, over 20 miles of forest was cleared in a 10-foot diameter. Absolutely nothing was left of the hit woodland. "(Huff, gasp) Man…This is hard…" But now he mentally marks on how many jutsu he learned.

'This would be the 20th… Hmn, might go back to the hideout now.'

Naruto made his way back until he encountered Itachi and Kisame sparring in their field. Both were giving their all as the ground they stood on became craters of a no mans land. 'Nii-san…' Ever since that day, Itachi has his Sharingan on every waking moment, except during his sparring time. Naruto also noticed a change in his demeanor, as he became colder to everyone, including Naruto.

Whatever happened that day must have been really upsetting.

'Needs more power…' 'And It must of affected me too…I may need to see a therapist for this.'

And so the rest day was uneventful until 9:30 at night…

Naruto walked through the hideout in his 'Junior' Akatsukiuniform (Its like the others, only missing the clouds.) clearly bored to death. So, wandering the halls of the cave, he made it across the meeting room. Now, Naruto never went inside except once, and for a good reason. Pien, the leader, lived in there (Or so Naruto thought as the man never leaves, unless there's a secret path inside). And Piens memory scared Naruto ever since. So the boy quickly walked through until he heard them talking.

Naruto suddenly found himself thinking: 'Hmnn… What do they talk during these meetings? What if I were to…overhear them? Then at least I might have some idea to what else goes on… Do they talk about missions? Powerful Jutsu? Valuable gossip that can be used as future blackmail for some the members? O.K., maybe a minute…'

Carefully, Naruto pressed his ear against the door and listened.

"Alright Itachi'" came the leaders voice, "I noticed your 'student' has been preforming powerful techniques within the woods, and yet without your knowledge. Care to explain?" "Hes mastering the techniques bestowed upon him." Answered the Uchiha. "As _without my knowledge,_ must he talk to me every time he wishes to produce a clone? Or is it something more…?"

"It's the second. I have reason to believe he is learning forbidden jutsu, as how he acquired such abilities is beyond my understanding. Although I fear he is becoming more powerful than I wish it to be. I can guess he really holds no allegiance to us, compared to you. AS you would think, that's not enough if you, per say, wanted him to destroy us…"

"What are you getting at? Are you saying that I would command him to kill you all?"

"Not entirely, although the plan was to not get too friendly with the container, even if it led to gaining his 'trust.' I only think that if it's the jutsu or something more and he learns to master it all, he might resist my demon absorption technique."

"Impossible."

"Well, as much as it is, even I am allowed my doubts. I only need to know where _your_loyalties lie. As it seems, you become attached to the boy, and I need to know if you are going to help him escape or try in some way to save him from his destiny."

Naruto was growing scared and confused but he continued listing.

"…My loyalties rest with the Akatsuki, not with the demon child. Despite what you may see or think, I could care less about him." "Good…"

--

Naruto backed away from the spot feeling sick. 'I-Itachi doesn't care about me? Is that really true? All these years, and it was a trick from the beginning?' Naruto ran to his room holding his head as the other voice was getting louder.

'Tricks! Lies! Deceit! Hate! REVENGE! BLOOD! **DEATH! KILL!!'** "No, no, NO! It can't be true.' 'It is. He's human. They think the same. Its all about gaining power and control.' 'Who…Are you?' the boy suddenly thought. The voice no longer sounded the same. It sounded more evil, and darker for some reason. 'You…don't know? Well this is interesting.' Replied the voice. '(Sigh) Now I'm talking to myself. This _has_ to be a bad dream.'

'Well it isn't. Now, in case you didn't get it the first time, those people want to kill you, so I recommend that you grab your stuff and leave.'

'Like I should trust a strange voice in my head.'

'Quiet human! Know that you are talking to the great kitsune demon Kyuubi!'

Naruto made it into his room and said "Wait, the Kyuubi? As in 'the only reason I'm in this mess' demon fox?' 'One in the same, although to be fair I didn't do crap to get you here.'

'Please, If it wasn't for you I could be-.' 'Another sniveling brat with no appreciation for life. Once again, I say that as you all being human.'

Narutowas going to say something else until his door opened with Itachi behind it. "Hey Naruto." He started. "I was thinking if we could train some time. We haven't done it in a while, and I need to see if you're still up to snuff, you know? To be a true member." "Ah, er…Sure Itachi." "Great." He said leaving.

'See? They want to see if you're strong enough to be feared or be killed. Now we need to leave. The sooner the better.' … 'I…I don't know. I just can't believe it. It just came from nowhere, and to see that no one cared for me, possibly to start with. What will I do?'

'Quiet child. As pathetic this is, and my slight part in it, I will help you.' 'And what can a disembodied voice in my head do?' 'Help you live. Let me tell you a secreat. If you die, so do I. Just take my advice as what would I have to gain if you die?' '…You may have a point, but do me a favor, and don't talk to me until I need it. O.K.?' 'Great, now I wont get any rest. Fine child. Now, get your things then get your ass out fast! Being this late, the cover of night will be perfect to use for your escape.'

Naruto obeyed, grabbing his clothes, black Akatsuki uniform, scroll and finally the gas mask. 'Alright, this may be my ignorance, but why have that?''Simple. If I cant live here, I might as well try and get back to Konoha, and for quite some reasons. One, I know my way around there. Two, everyone thinks I'm dead or long gone, and just in case, the mask will protect my identity, and finally, I still plan for revenge.'

'Revenge? What the school bully stole your lunch? Pathetic reas-.''Angry mobs wanting to kill me for every day I could rememer. Now I can hunt down their weaknesses and destroy them like a virus. 'Well, now I think I'm starting to like you. And for that reason, how can I not help? Tell you what, Ill teach you new moves. Things you can only dream of.'

-And so Naruto snuckout with a backpack full of things, making a cource for the village he hated as a child.-


	8. Of all places…

Pillz-E: Wellhelloallyouveiewingpeople. Theauthosnotherebuthetoldmetothankyouforthereviews. Itbrightensuphisdayandmakeshimusethe'suisidehotline'alotless. HedoesntownNarutoorme. Now,Ihavesometimetospend,soI'llansweraoldfanmailFoamydidntburnrelatedtome. Itsays:"WhydoesPillz-Etakehispills?Whatwhouldhappenwhenhestops?" NOTHINGGOOD!! Icouldgetbluefeet,oraweeze,RANDOMFEATHORSoutmyass!Idontknow,butIdontwanttofondout. Nontheless,enjoy!

Author walks by like a zombie to see his theripist.

Pillz-E:...Err, hemaynotbeupdatingforafewdays...

Ch.8: Of all places…

Naruto was halfway 'home' until the pitch-black night finally prevented him from continuing. Luckily Naruto made a clean escape, so none of the Akatsuki where alerted. 'Boy, I think you should sleep for the night.' 'What? That's stupid. I mean, think. If they start looking for me, they could catch me in my sleep! At least in that village I have the illusion of being safe.'

'Well, at least you have slight common sense, but just cast a genjutsu on yourself, hide under some leafs, _something_'cause your body is becoming really stressed out. I mean, if they do catch you, after some rest, cou can at least fight them off.' '…Good point. I'll need all the energy I can get so…'

…

Naruto drifted into slumber and soon after found himself in water. "What the? How did I get here?" Getting up, he noticed that he was in some sort of sewer. "Alright Kami, I know my life's in the gutter now, but this… Stupid dream…" "**Trust me kid, this is no dream."** "Shit…That voice…"

Naruto walked to its source, which was a huge dark room with mammoth bars running through giving it the impression of a prison style door. "Alright _demon fox_, where are you?" And then, a huge claw came out of nowhere and almost crushed the child, who back flipped away from harm at the last moment. **"Heh heh heh. Nice reflexes, although nonetheless futile effort. In this accused cage, I could be no better than a figment of imagination."**Naruto took no notice in the demons words, instead to only to vomit.

"**Ha ha! Yet even now you still cower in fear of my presence!"**"Hell no." Naruto gasped. "Just with your eyes and mouth visible, you're the _ugliest _mofo I have _ever_ seen."

"**INSOLENT WORM! Do not disrespect me or I will-."** "What, yell? You even said you can't do anything else, and yelling seems like the one thing your really good at." **"Ah, er…"** Things got real quiet as the rooms atmosphere got brighter. "…So… tell me, where exactly am I and why?"

"**Your conscious mind is within its own void that links itself with the seal on your stomach, the place where I'm kept. As for why, don't you wish to grow more powerful**?"

This got Narutos full attention. "You mean I'll learn all my new moves here? AWESOME!"

"**Indeed… Here, I can help you perform better…(What the hell do you call it?)…Taijutsu and teach you on how to use drops of my energy effectively**." "Wait, that's it? No super powerful move to blow my enemies away?" "**Let me just clear things up. One: how can I show you jutsu when I don't have _hands_ let alone _fingers or thumbs_? And don't say 'You lived for so long that you should remember at least one thing.' Why should I remember stuff I can't use? Plus over time, every day seems the same. Two: When were done with this, you wont need 'jutsu,' only the raw strength you will, over time, posses. Finally, I looked through your memories and saw that your fighting style has more problems than a trouble child on crack, so trust me, this is really needed**."

"You can look through my memories…? O.K., whatever. I'll take whatever training you'll give. I also guess I could improve my fighting style while I can. So, how are we going to do this?"

"**That's the fun part**." Simply answered the Kyuubi, giving a evil toothy smile.

…

Naruto woke in the morning from under the disguising effects of his genjutsu, rubbing his head. The training was surprisingly hard. First was to mimic two 'human (a man & woman)' illusions of himself, and every time Naruto got it wrong, he was given a negative chakra feedback that felt like electricity, coursing through his veins.

Needless to say, it happened a lot.

Still, he started his newest Taijutsu, which was called 'demon style,' which mixed something of kickboxing and something he said as 'gentle fist,' whatever those where.

So the journey continued.

After a few hours, he gazed past a few trees as he placed his black gas mask on. Within a few moments he heard his own heavy breathing through his mouthpiece as he muttered with hate.

"Konoha…"

Naruto jumped back abit, surprised on how low his voice was. 'Perfect. Now, how to get in...'

And at just that moment, 3 ninjas with the rain headbands walked past a guard, just by tapping their headbands. "Were here for the Chuunin Exams."

'Of course! The exams! I heard a little from one of my missions in the village hidden in the grass, that any 3 members of any village can enter. Just great.' "Shadow clone Jutsu." Naruto muttered. 2 clones poofed and they walked to the gate to be stopped by the guard. "What village are you from?" 'Crap, what now?' "The village in the...Shades?" It almost sounded like a question, but the guy nodded. "New village like the sound eh? Got a letter from the leader?"

"No." Piped up a clone. "But I am his son, so technically I'm also a representative. Just show me the paperwork and I'll clear things up." "Alright sir, follow me." "I'll go with him." said the other clone. "Nar...achi, go find a hotel or something." "Alright." said the newly named 'Narachi,' and they separated.

...

'Kami on high, that was too close. Suppose I should try and look around the old neighborhood, before I destroy it all.' So, Naruto took a walk to all the old places he knew as a 7 year old. Training fields, the old academe grounds, shops, even his old apartment complex, and everything was the same. Especially the apartment, smelling like month old garbage. Lazy ass land lord. Continuing down a back path, he saw some guy with black clothes, some makeup on his face, and a bundle of bandages on his back holding a little kid by the shirts neck, and 2 kunoichi (a blond and pink haired) staring at it in shock.

"Let me go!" Said the little kid, struggling against the others grip. "Not until you learn on how to watch where your running brat." "Hey," said Naruto. "What's going on here?" "Piss off. This is none of your business." he said, not even looking, and in a flash, Naruto appeared behind him holding both his hands far apart, forcing the man onto the ground, possession threatening to break off his arms. "You know, there's one thing I hate about people like you. Treating little kids like that...Its just pathetic." The dropped kid crawled back a bit only to look back once. "You alright?" asked Naruto, not letting up his grip. "Ugh...Yea? T-thanks."

Naruto placed his attention on his captive, groaning from the pain. "Well, hope your not too 'attached' to your arms, because I'm going to fix that." Rather, he would of, but a blast of wind tossed him off and into the air, leaving him to flip and land onto the top of a nearby fence, perfectly. "What were you doing to my brother?!" came a angry voice. "The fine art of keeping his hands to...himself. ('Wow, 2 bad puns in a row. I'm on fire!') and who may I ask, are you?" finished Naruto.

"Temari. And the person you almost almost brutally harmed is my brother, Kankuro. Now you."

"I am Narachi of the land of Shade. And I hope to finish my business with Kankuro on a later date, unless he still feels the need to pick on little kids. Then again, I guess I cant blame him. Suppose anyone his age is really way out of his leage." With a quick look at the guy from behind the mask, Naruto finished with: "Don't worry, I know a few 3 year olds who can go with handicap matches. Cant wait to see that."

"You basterd..." Kankuro muttered. "I'll get you. I swear it!"

"If you ever beat the 3 year olds."

The 2 girls and the child laughed as the two siblings walked off. "Wow, you sure showed him." said the pink haired girl. "Thank you." "Heh, no problem...?" "Oh, Sakura. And this is Ino." she said, pointing to the blond.

"Well...It was nice meeting you all. Hope we meet again...And not on opposite sides of a battle."

Naruto walked passed them and he only heard the fox say 'That...went well. But didnt you say you where going to destroy this place? Why care about the kid? Is it because of your past?' 'I guess so. So what would it matter?' 'Nothing other than the fact you have feelings for this place.''...I might. I remember Itachi telling me to not harm those who dont deserve it.' 'Yet he said he didn't care for you. Does his teachings still count?''Yes. And even now I see him as my nii-san. Maybe what he said was a act. Maybe he still cares about me like his brother.'

'I guess it doesn't matter. I did sense one thing though. When you saw those two girls there was a small...' 'What are you getting at?' 'I think...you like them. May it be my animal insights but I could guess that you liked them.' 'Wait-.' 'Yea, I see it. Right now your like a open book.' 'Shut up!'

And so they walked to a hotel, bickering and the like till the clones came home, ready for their stay at Konoha.


	9. Prepare for the exam

A new chapter! Now we're getting to the good stuff, and its time to ask these questions: will Naruto destroy Konoha? What will the parrings be? Who should fight who? Will I update soon? No one knows, includeing me!

Pillz-E: AndyougotapostcardfromItachi.

Really? Lets see. 'Greetings from the bahamas.

Dear author: Your chapters still suck, I'll be coming back soon, bla, bla, bla. Glad you're not here, Itachi.' Just what I would expect him to say. Anyways, enjoy. And I still don't own Naruto.

...

Ch 9: Prepare for the exam.

Naruto walked to the first exam building with 2 new clones, getting dirty looks from most of the ninjas except a few who probably feared whatever powers he controlled. Then he crossed paths with Temari, Kankuro, and another with a sand gourd on his back. "Gaara, that's the guy." Kankuro whispered to the other. Gaara said nothing as Naruto walked past with his 2 clones through the entrance way. 'Hey kid, if I where you, I would watch out for that Gaara guy. Something's off with him that just seems…familiar.'

'I'll keep a eye out for him then.'

As they continued, Naruto also saw Sakura, a raven-haired boy, and one in green spandex, standing down a hall filled with other ninjas, full of commotion.

"Hey! Let us through!" "What's with the hold up?" "Hurry the hell up! I want to start this test sometime this week!"

The Narutos pushed their way through the crowd until they found the problem; 2 leaf nin.

"Hey, were doing you all a favor." Said one with wrapping's around his nose. His partner continued, "These exams will most likely kill you guys, if you're not disqualified first."

With a sigh, Narutos group approached. "Hey, didn't you hear us the first time?" Asked the bandaged nose ninja. "We said you couldn't go through."

"Listen." Said Naruto. "I'm here to take a exam, and I don't need any more crap than what I already got, so I'll make this fair for you. Move out of my way…or I'll open a refreshing can of whoop-ass. Your choice."

"Heh, listen to this guy. Here's my deal…" "Narachi." "Whatever. I won't move, and you're not getting through. I took this exam three times before, and if I failed so much, I doubt you will do better. But go ahead. Prove me wrong by getting past me."

"That's what I wanted from the beginning." And with a snap of his fingers, his two 'bodyguards' walked in front. They both grabbed one of the ninja, and threw them in opposite directions by a few feet. "Too easy." Naruto muttered as started to enter.

"Wait… You think we're done?!" Shouted one of the two nin. They pounced to Naruto with kunai out, but the shadow clones blocked either side and mirrored each other with a counter blow to the gut. Both leaf ninja fell to the ground, out of breath. "Yes," finished Naruto. "I think you are."

Everyone was quiet as they watched the strange ninjas entered the room, until some random guy broke the awkward silence by saying "I was about to do the same…" and walked into the classroom, and a few others followed. Things got back to normal as the spandex loving Rock Lee turned to his teammates. "Who are those guys? Their appearance is very unnerving, almost like that Gaara guy."

"I'm not sure, but I do know that the one who spoke is called Narachi." Said Sakura. "I met him once before when he saved the 'honarable' grandson of the hokage from Kankuro, while you where off training with Guy."

"Then I suppose he is not all bad then. Heh, he may also be a strong opponent. What do you think Sasuke?"

He only walked in without a word, much to Lees disapproval.

"…Argh! Sasuke, why must you act like Kakashi-sensei?"

"Why must you act like Guy?" Sakura retorted before following Sasuke, leaving Rock Lee to an empty hallway.

"Sakura…" Lee mumbled. "What do you see in Sasuke, to defend him from even the smallest insult, that I do not have? What makes him better _period?_" With a sigh he entered, only wanting an answer.

…

"Alright, shut up all you useless vermin and get ready for the first exam! I will be your proctor, Ibiki Morino, head of the torture department." Said a large man with scars along his face once everyone was seated. "Now, the following test is a written exam, with a total of 10 questions, 9 of which are on paper. Each one correctly answered is worth a point, and you need 7 to pass. Anything lower and you instantly fail this exam. Get caught cheating and its one point from your score. Get caught 3 times, and you fail. Finally, notice that surrounding you are 40 ninja in grey. They are my eyes and ears. Now, the test is in front of you, it finishes in 1 hour, now begin!"

Naruto looked at his paper and almost choked himself after reading the questions, all being impossibly hard. "Th…There's no way I can do this! These are made for someone of a I.Q. of…400. Impossible for any one here, unless… It has a double meaning. Maybe there's a clue in the proctors words."

As Naruto thought long and hard, he came up with one solution. Cheat. But who will be his 'target?' Temari and Gaara might not be suitable, Kankuro wasn't even close to his top 1000 list, and what about Sakura? She didn't seem like the type to fight, so she must excel in intelligence.

Doing a quick hand sign, he muttered "Reverse Shadow Posession Technique." His shadow lurched out and using the cover of desks, found its target. 'And to think that this move was completeley useless.' Naruto found himself smerking as he mimicked the girl with her answers. Comeing across this move was luck while he looked through his scroll some time ago.

Basically, It's exactly whats its name suggests. It allows the user to mimic others, while said user can cancel it at any time. Its mainly used to copy documents, forge writing when needed, and as Naruto found out once, a dangerous way to copy some ninjutsu.

Naruto finished writing down his answers and canceled the technique as Ibiki started up again.

"Alright, put down your pencils, and prepare for the final question." He overlooked the final 85 students and allowed himself a small chuckle. "Alright, now here are some last minute rules. This is a pass or fail question, the others didn't matter. If you get this wrong, than no one in your group can become ninja at all. If you wish, leave now, and you can still have the chance to be chunin."

More than half of the group began to get up until they heard laughter, coming from Naruto.

"Whats so funny?" growled Ibiki.

"This whole test idea. 'Fail and you cant become a ninja?' What a load of crap."

"How so?"

Naruto thought for a second. "For starters, to fail, lets say, everyone, the homeland will receve less protection, workers, and all around strength if another village attacks."

"We have more than enough strengh to combat any attack."

"Maybe, but I don't buy it. Next, to fail the students of other villages will cause them to think that you are denying them, you don't see them as equals, so that leads to retaliation. Right?"

"Er, well-."

"And finally, this 'last question' is only a gamble. If you'r going to be a ninja, you must learn to take your chances if you cant do anything else, if that's whats needed to finish the mission. So, I think I'll take my chances and finish this game as such."

Ibiki looked around and saw that most of the students sat back down, so only 12 left.

"Is that everyone who's going to leave?" Ibiki asked. "Then you all pass." And even Naruto was caught off guard.

"Wait, what the crap? Was there even a question?" Naruto shouted.

"Nope."

"So I wasted a perfectly good speech for nothing?"

"Of course not. Not only you proved to me that some kids still use their brains, but you gave them enough hope to wait, and proved the point of this exa-(WHAM!)." A big black ball bust through the window, smaked the proctor in the head (sending him crashing into a wall). The ball poofed open in smoke to reveal a purple haired woman with a banner that read 'CONGRATULATIONS!'

"Alright, Its time for the second-."

"ANKO!" yelled Ibiki in pain. "Watch where your going you crazy bi-."

"Yea, yea, that's fascinating." The woman named Anko said, not listening at all. "Wow, there's a lot of people here than last time. Did you even try?"

"I think you cracked my skull…"

"Alright everyone, the second exam starts tomorrow at the entrance to the forest of death. Get there at 9 a.m sharp for your next task."

"Oh don't mind me. I'll just lie in the corner and bleed."

"Suck it up and be a man!" Anko shouted, still not looking. "Everyone, dismissed."

--Endofchapter-AuthorsNote--

Well, I hope to have caught some of you off guard too. But seriously I need your help. I need paring ideas, who would fight who, ect. And C2 communities who would accept my story, 'cause I don't know where it will fit in, but I want it to be noticed, even if its a little bit more. I appreciate any help anyone would give. Thanks, and I'll be back as soon as I can.


	10. The forest of sunshine and dreams: part1

Well I grew board, so heres half of a new chapter.

Pillz-E: And Itachi's back.

Damn it! There must be some way to get rid of him. Well, while I think, enjoy whatever imagination I could scrape out of my head.

Itachi (after breaking down the door): And I'm back from my vacation to rain flamey doom upon your soul and story once again! For example, theres not enough 'me' in it to give it any personality.

One sec, first, you were worried I crap up your image, and now you want to be back in?

Itachi: Yea, because lets face it. Without me in the begining this story is nothing. NOTHING!

Lets just finish this. I do not own Naruto or Pillz-E, and thats the last time i'll say it, because its the only thing more annoying than Mr. Personality over there.

Itachi: Who, me?

...

Ch. 10: The forest of sunshine and dreams: part 1.

'Naruto! Wake up you accursed human!'

"Ugh…Shut up and make your own damn waffleZzzzzzzzzz…"

'Todays not the day to sleep in!' Not seeing the kid do anything started to make him mader than hell. Whatever this kid was hopeing for in this petty exam that was needed for revenge was beyond him, although if he continued to sleep, he wouldn't have the chance. 'Alright, WAKE UP!' The Kyubbi sent out his strongest chakra shock yet.

Naruto started to toss and turn before he started to mumble. The demon continued with the shock that felt like 1,000 pokes (in the real world) until the boy started to yell, while completeley intangled in his bed sheets. "Ugh… Ah…AH! Spiders! GET THEM OFF ME, get them off me! Uff." Falling head first onto the floor, he woke up.

"What happened?" He looked at a nearby clock.

8:56

Crap.

…

'Craperscraperscraperscrapers! Why didn't you wake me sooner you stupid fox?'

'I've been trying for the past hour!'

Naruto (and clones) rushed to the forest of death, but there was a big problem. He had no idea where it was. "Quick! Throw me into the air!" The clones grabbed his arms and catapulted him into the sky. 'There!' "That way!" Naruto pointed, and the other two dashed off in that direction. 'Now we'll get there in time.'

'One problem.'

'What?'

'Look down.'

And the earth was flying up to greet him.

…

The two clones finally made it to the area on time, if not out of breath. "I…Cant beleve we made it…"

"Yea. I just hope our 'leader' will hurry up."

…

Naruto layed on the cold stone floor, his arms and legs frozen above him, giving the look of a dead animal. A old man walked out of a ramin shop with a stick and poked the boy. "Hey, are you alright?"

His only reply was "…Owie…"

'Kid, you're pathitic.' Because in no-time, Naruto was healed by the fox.

"Eh, you need me to get some help?" continued the guy, but in a flash, Naruto was up on his feet. "Nope, just fell from a ten story height. I'm perfectley fine. Now, I need to get to the exam." And he was off in a cloud of smoke.

…

"I'm…(huff)…here." Naruto said to his clones. "And just in time." They said. "Really?" "Not at all. Your fifteen minutes late, but it doesn't matter. Nothing happened yet."

Naruto looked around at the crowd. "I don't think anyone's late."

Just then-Kunai, throwing stars, even a few swords-came flying out of the forest in massive waves with the intent to mow down all of the students. However, they all managed to jump or dodge out of the way. "Now that I seen that I didn't kill anyone, it's time to start this exam!"

The proctor, Anko, jumped out of the forest and landed in front of its gates with a slight grin. "Alright everyone, now before to start this, here are the rules. One, each group will receive either an earth or heaven scroll. To beat this test, you must get the other scroll and head to the large building in the middle of the forest of death. Get the scrolls any way possible. The second and final rule is just don't die. Now see that stand?" She said, pointing to the glorified box. "You need to sign up now so we can identify who will, or won't make it. Remember, if you want to make it, you need to be strong and have _reflexes_."

And at the end of that she thew a kuni to a random person who happened to be Naruto.

Who stopped it from impaling his skull by using his thump and index finger to pluck the blade from thin air, which in itself was no small feat.

"You dropped this." He said with a small laugh, tossing it back with more force. In a blink, it soared past her face and landed in a tree, with only half of the handle sticking out. Smile quickly replaced with shock, her left cheek felt wet. Touching it, she saw it was her own blood. "Luckey shot." She mumbled. "Now hurry up with the forms!"

-After all was said and done, every one ran into the forest-

'Alright, now time to think on how to get the other scroll. That in itself shouldn't be too hard.'

Well, as it turned out, it was. The only approch was to find any wandering group, or continue to find the building and take the scroll from the next group that came his way. The thing was he knew that everyone else was around him, but they're either waiting until Naruto drops his guard, or avoiding him altogether. Well, except three certan people.

Naruto felt a lengering sence of bloodlust around himself untill he finally stoped around at a small clearing. "You might as well come out." He said to his surroundings. "Even the animals are frightened by you." Indeed, the area was as silent as the grave.

And in a cloud of sand was the red head boy known as Gaara, followed by Temari and Kankuro.

"Well well well. Hello Mr. Useless, how's the child abuse? I herd it's now just as popular as kicking puppies and stealing money from orphans."

Kankuro took the rappings off his back. "Narachi, I'm going to make you regreat that you ever met me." And with a twist they flew off to reviel a creapy 3-eyed puppet. Naruto smiled as he thought 'He's really serious about this. Well in the end it wont matter.'

"Alright. I suppose a slight warm up would do me a little good." "But no outside help." Kankuro said, eyeing the clones. With a slight frown and a snap of his fingers, the clones dispurced.

"My clones where becoming a pain to keep anyways."

"Wait, your alone? Well, then it will be easier to kill you!" And with the flick of the rist, his puppet flew twords Naruto, blades bursting out between each body segment, as it stabbed itself into the boys chest…


	11. Part 2: Hell's Forest

Ow, ow, OW! I had a thought, and heres the result.

Itachi: So, you figured out who would fight who?

Pillz-E: Andthepairingzzzzz?

Yes and maybe.

Itachi & Pillz-E: Then who?

I cant just say-

Itachi & Pillz-E: With the pairing!

Oh, er... well, it wont be Hinata or Sakura-

Itachi & Pillz-E: WHO?!

...(mumbles) Ino...

Itachi: ...What? That (w)itch? You got to be jokeing...(looks at authors face) Hes not jokeing. Listen, do you **want** to be flaimed? How many people actually like her, because I actually see negitave numbers.

(T-T) Well, I like her (Itachi: That would explane things)... Plus, things might change. Anyways, enjoy the story.

...

-Part 2: Hell's Forest (Picnicking grounds of 300 Spartans).

Blood gushed from the wound Kankuro's puppet left as he pulled it away. Expecting his opponent's body to just poof away in a replacement jutsu, the puppet master stared at it, but nothing happened.

"Did I just win? I knew he was just a poser." Laughed Kankuro. He walked over to the collapsed body and kicked it over so it faced up. "You weren't even worth it." Bending down, he almost grabbed Narutos scroll, but instead looked at the opened wound.

Narachi's blood was gone, but was replaced by a black substance that looked like (scentless) tar. "What the…?" And it began to flow out quickly.

Kankuro jumped back not expecting whatever that was happening _was happening_. "Does anyone know what's going on?" Kankuro asked his siblings. Temari was just as confused as her brother, and Gaara watched with interest.

Narutos body was twitching intensely as the tar like substance forced itself out of the mask and its filter, soon covering not only the body, but most of the ground they stood on.

Then, hands rose from the muck, grey and rotting. One by one, they shot out grabbing onto Kankuros limbs. "Wha-what's going on?" he yelled in a panicked voice.

The black tar started to bubble up as Naruto rose from its depths, comely walking forward.

"Isn't this _exciting?_ I am just having a blast using these tricks." Then he noticed Kankuro's sweating face. "What? Not enjoying it? Getting a little scared? Why be so serious?"

"Te-Temari! Gaara! Help!"

Kankuro's sister looked like she was going to help, if it wasn't for the black tar spawning rotting corpses to hold them back. "Don't forget that this is our fight. But don't worry," Naruto patted the others face. "It will be over soon."

Kankuro desperately tried to move his hands and fingers in a attempt to move his puppet, but nothing happened.

"And now to kill you." Naruto formed some hand signs. "Darkness summoning: _Inner Demons_." The Tar flew into the forest behind him and the sky, and any source of light quickly disappeared. Only a very small white aura emitted from the 4 ninjas.

Kankuro found himself free, but was to scared to move as 2 huge glowing eyes looked down upon him from the heavens, and a giant maw forming underneath. 'Move! I got to move!' he told himself, but the mouth and eyes, big as planets drew close…

And the forest herd the most girlieish, ear-piercing scream ever.

…

The land turned back to normal with the exception of Kankuro huddled up to himself, eyes wide, mumbling to himself.

"Well I congratulate your brother." Naruto said to the two other sand siblings. "I never had that much fun before." He turned to leave until Gaaras voice called out, "Who are you?" "And what was that?" continued Temari.

"Narachi of the Shade, manipulator of darkness itself. And what I used was something called '_chakra_' or _Jutsus_ if you never herd of it before." Naruto finished like a smart ass as he jumped away, not bothering to take their scroll. 'Things may be more interesting with them around.'

-A few hours later of searching through the forest, he came across a new unusual sight.-

He perched himself upon a nearby tree as he watched Sakura and her two unconscious teammates against 3 ninja with a musical note upon their headbands. Naruto continued from the sidelines after a few people (that Ino girl, a fatso, and pineapple head) tried to help but was almost completely beaten. 'Well, if there was ever a time to play the hero…'

…

"This is the most pathetic fight I have ever saw." Laughed Dosu. Zaku and Kin stood at his side smiling as the ninjas kept flocking to them, yet fell like flies. "Now hurry up and kill them." "Right." Said his partners. They rushed in but was frozen in mid step. "Hey Shikamaru, are you using 'that' jutsu again?" asked Choji, knowing all to well of the reason of a sudden stop.

"No…I'm have no energy left to do it." The Nara said, slightly confused himself.

"Then if it isn't you…"

And in a flash, a black clad Narachi appeared before them.

…

Naruto looked at his opponents as he released the jutsu hold over two of them. The freed nin quickly regrouped with their 'leader' who looked at the strange new opponent. "Just another bug to step on…" Dosu told himself.

He lifted up his metal equipped arm and was about to tap it until he was frozen too. "Sorry, but I cant let you do anything before I figure a good way to dispose of…" Naruto trailed off after hearing a loud buzzing sound. Slowly it became harder to think strait.

No longer able to hold on to the jutsu, Naruto slumped to the floor.

"Like this technique?" the sound girl Kin asked. "It will slowly stop all of your motor functions, using bells at the end of my throwing needles." Out of all his damn luck, this ninja managed to quickly set up a trap without his notice. Needless to say, Naruto was impressed.

He saw 4 in front of him about 4 feet away. 'At least they need to be close to work.'

"Darkness devastation." He mumbled and soon he was in a black bubble that spread outwards until it touched the bells. When it did, the bubble disappeared leaving Naruto and the dirt he stood on, but disintegrated everything else it touched.

He tried to get up, but his mussels refused to move. Luckily he didn't have to.

"Time to put an end to these interruptions." Zaku said, but not before a purple blur appeared behind him, holding the sound nins arms apart on the ground.

"S-Sasuke?" Sakura said in disbelief.

Naruto watched him as some black tattoo grew across Sasuke's skin, but he _felt_ the kid's power increase.

"You seemed attached to your arms. Lets fix that."

'You stole that from me…' Naruto thought flatly.

He managed raised his hand as he muttered, "Shadow possession jutsu" upon Sasuke, forcing him to let go. If looks could kill, the boy's would of destroyed all life on the planet while the sound nin looked relieved yet confused.

"Why did you stop me?" Sasuke asked while using every ounce of his being to try to break free.

Naruto on the other hand wasn't listening. Instead, he looked upon the sound nin. He didn't know why, but they emitted something that he thought familiar. Like a snake…

'Damn this is going to bother me…' "Hey you…eh…Saki?…"

"Zaku."

"Your from the sound village right? What's the leaders name? Looking at you guys just gives me a faint impression to someone…"

"Why should I tell you shit?" he spat.

"I can always let Sasuke go."

Zaku looked back to the ravin haired boy to see him with blood-shot eyes, and foam starting to come out of his mouth. "Eh, good point." "And if I see anything from your partners, well, I don't mind a few deaths here and there."

Zaku sighed. 'Shit, what now?'


	12. Part 3?

Special thanks to Ichigo Mirai for not only helping me fight the evils of the writers block, but provided a great cleanup for the chapter as well.

Well, another chapter is up, but don't be fooled by the title. The third part of the chunnin exams is in the next chapter. And I finally made a deal with Itachi.

Pillz-E: Whatisit?

He'll be looking after some interns who will be 'helping' me get more ideas and a plot for the story as soon as I go to Interns'R'us (a.k.a unemployment lines 8D). I hear they have a sale on those who worked for X-Play.

Pillz-E: Whatishegoingtodo?

(Flash to a dark future with 1000 interns on 1000 typewriters as Itachi lashes a whip out at them.)

Itachi: Work faster, FASTER little slaves!

(Back now)

Pillz-E: Second thought, I dont want to know.

...

Part 3?: 'Sorry, but your exam is in another castle.'

Zaku couldn't believe his luck today. Not only was he trapped by the kids shadow, but also he had the threat of a kid all doped up on the curse mark ready to kick his ass to the moon and back. 'Looks like I have no choice but to…' he stopped himself mid-thought after seeing the Uchiha brat again. His power seemed to be dwindling. 'Still, it's some luck.'

"Well?" Yelled Naruto.

Zaku looked thoughtful for a minute before gave his answer, with a wicked grin starting to sprout across his face. "Alright, I guess I have no choice. Our leaders name is… none of your buissness."

"Wrong answer." Naruto snarled. He released the jutsu, until he realized what he done as Sasuke just fell limp to the ground, no longer full of that strength of earlier. "What the crap?" Before he could yell at the Uchiha, he felt a fist hit his stomach as Zaku rushed at him and punched him in the gut.

The sound nin just grinned wickedly as he watched Naruto fall to the ground holding his stomach in pain. As Zaku walked to his team, Kin muttered as she walked over to Dosu, "That kid was more trouble that what it was worth. Let's just get the scrolls."

"Sure," agreed Zaku as he walked over to the group of leaf nin.

The males of the groups (still except lee, unfortunately) tried to get up to defend themselves, but were quickly tossed aside.

Kin walked over to Ino and Sakura and pulled their hair. She held on tight. "You better give us your scrolls now," she said, "unless you want to lose something more than your hair." After giving a quick glance to Sakura.

Before the two girls could answer, they all heard a voice from where Naruto was.

"You... wouldn't... dare... hurt them," said Naruto in a cold voice.

Zaku looked back to Naruto who was getting on his feet slowly. 'I thought I punched him hard enough to keep him out for the rest of the day… oh well.' "Kin, Dosu, you two deal with the leaf genin. I'm going to have some fun with this kid over here."

With a sigh, Dosu said "Just don't take to long."

"Gotcha." replied Zaku.

Once he reached a few feet from Naruto, he could feel something was completely off from the boy he fought not too long ago. He could see a faint glowing red aura around his body, but Zaku chose to ignore it. "Come on. Show me what you got."

"Don't worry. **I plan to."**

This sentence alone made Zaku's heart skip a few beets, because of all the bloodlust radiating from that…Kid!

"**Now enough stalling. Let the games begin**!" and Naruto rushed forward with a clawed hand and slammed it into Zakus torso. He kept on pushing (easily carrying the sound nin) into a nearby tree.

"Wind cutter jutsu!" Zaku yelled, and by aiming his hands, he created a strong wind that managed to push Naruto away.

"**Is that the best you can do? I'm disappointed**." The demon container mocked. "**Infinite darkness jutsu**." And everything went black for Zaku.

…

Kin and Dosu stopped to watch as Zaku stumbled around like he was blind. "Zaku!" shouted Kin, "Stop messing around!"

"I-I can't see! S-someone help!" Naruto took this time to use his claw like hands to slash through Zakus skin and after a while, grab him by the back of the head and bashed it into the ground, but not hard enough to kill.

As the jutsu wore off, Zaku now badly hurt (with a broken nose and bloody face) tried to get up and escape into the forest, but than Naruto stood before him.

"**You weren't thinking of leaving right now. I didn't even warm up all the way**."

"No, no get away from me!" he yelled, trying to dash off in the other direction.

Naruto laughed as Zaku tried to make his pathetic escape. "**That's right. Go and survive in an unsightly way. Run. Run and cling to your wretched life**!" Then Naruto turned to look for Dosu and Kin, but they left.

"**That's right cowards**…" Naruto walked to Ino and Sakura as the Kyubbis power faded away, held out his hands and asked, "Are you alright?"

They sat there in shock, but nodded.

They still didn't believe what just happened before them. They thought if anyone was going to save them, it would be Sasuke, or even another leaf team, not some total stranger. None of this adds up.

"What about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. "Is he alright?"

'How should we know?!' Yelled the fox, already tired of this petty human talk. 'He could be halfway to hell for all I care.'

Naruto on the other hand decided for a better choice of words. "Don't know. I haven't seen anything like what he had before."

"Then, why did you help us?" asked Ino. "You're from another village and all…unless you don't see us as a threat."

'No shit Sherlock.'

Naruto scratched the back of his head with a sigh. "Its just to see such a heavy injustice reminded me… Never mind."

While there was a short awkward silence, Rock Lee and Sasuke decided to awaken at this moment. "Well, I guess now is the best time to leave, now your teammates are o.k. I still have a job to do myself." And he leaped into the forest.

"What a strange ninja." Ino said, not like an insult rather than it was confusion.

As Rock Lee rubbed his head, he looked at the two kunoichi who appeared confused if not relieved.

"So…Did anything happen?"

They just looked at him and said "More than you would ever guess."

…

'Stupid stupid stupid! Injustice? Why couldn't I come up with anything better?'

'Look on the bright side, they bought it, so now we can get on with our life. Now just get what you need.'

'Right.'

Naruto flung from tree to tree looking for a target until he happened to find 2 rain nin. 'Jackpot!'

He jumped down into the bush (although it didn't matter so much. Twilight was almost over and they didn't even have a fire going.) to see them argue amongst themselves. "I told you to learn a fire jutsu first, but nooooo. 'I'm a perfect _water_ ninja, it would be pointless to learn such a skill.' You didn't even bother to bring a few matches." Complained one with a few stitches along his mouth and right eye.

The one who he was talking to (he had bags underneath his eyes) retorted with, "What? Oh, I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you strait because you where so _wasted_ that night. You couldn't even walk strait let alone slur a few words together."

'Oh,' thought Naruto. 'this could be fun.' Forming a hand sign, he muttered under his breath "Shadow possession jutsu." And possessed the stitched up one.

"At least I have depth reception!" shouted baggy eye. Naruto then made his possessed ninja punch the other across the face. "Oh, that is _it!_" and the two tossed aside all their taijutsu training for an old fashioned brawl. While the two where going all out, Naruto noticed that one of them dropped a heaven scroll.

'Just the one I needed.' And in a flash, he grabbed it and headed for the castle.


	13. The exile & preliminaries

Well, here's a new chapter despite school or the writers block! FOR ONCE I WIN!

Itachi with a box: ...Are you done?

For the moment. So, whats with that?

Itachi: This? Well, since you pay me for support, I thought I would get you this. (Opens the box to reveal a monkey and a cattle prod) Its called a shockey monkey, trained to help motivate the simple minded with a simple sentence. Don't you have a story to write? (The primate activated his over sized tazer and smacked the hapless author).

Itachi: ...Well now he's more quiet...

Pillz-E who just walked in: WhydoIsmellbacon?

Ch. 11: The exile & preliminaries.

-Meanwhile, back at the Akatsuki-

Itachi stood in the middle of the 'councel' room which now contained all its current living members, a first since the organization started. The members stood silent as Pein stood from his seat to look at the Uchiha, fury burning in his eyes.

"Itachi Uchiha," he started, "It has been 5 days since the demon container escaped from under your watch. Since his disappearance, we first thought not much of it, until of recently. We are to believe that you are responsible for his escape."

"So what gave you the idea?" The Uchiha asked coolly. "There was no reason for me to, and as I said before, I could care less about him."

"Yet here we are. Your loyalty was unwavering, you were distant and only did the job on hand, but always spent your free time with the child. There where times you shown compassion and unless if I am mistaken, you even taught him high level techniques. The last to check up the child was you, and so the idea is obvious."

"So rather spend your time to look for him, you rather accuse me?" muttered Itachi.

"The biggest thing that gave it away that led to this was your eyes when I asked you last. In your claim to not care for him, your eyes wandered. The telltale to any lie. Now what you did is treason and gives me every right to kill you now, a few have offered to give you a chance. You are to be kept under lock and key until 24 hours are up. If you cooperate and find the brat, all would be forgiven. Until then, enjoy your cell."

The puppet man Sasori and Kakuzu jumped from their spot and grabbed Itachis arms, although didn't receive any resistance as they took him to a cell deep within the hideout.

-8 hours later-

Kisame walked down the path to his teammate's cell which was guarded by the art loving Deidara.

"Did he say anything yet?" questioned the fish man.

"No, but did you really expect him to, un?" Deidara replied, boardly.

"Well, let me talk to him. I might draw something out."

The blond man chuckled to himself a bit as he pulled out a key to the (iron) prison door. "He resisted almost everything including torture, so I don't think you could fare much better, un."

As it was unlocked, Kisame walked through showing a evil grin. "That's because they don't know what I do."

He entered to a dimly lit room to find the Uchiha sitting in a corner badly injured, although how didn't surprise him. He knew what damage the torture left, as in his right arm was broken along with a black eye and fractured leg, he was a mess that managed to not show his pain.

"Kisami? What do you want?" He asked, blood trickleing out his mouth.

"I'm here because I know you better than anyone else. You care for that kid like he was your own flesh and blood. I believe you know where he is, and I want to take you to him. I want to help you escape."

Itachi looked at his fishy partner with a raised eyebrow. "Why do you want to help me?"

Kisame laughed under his breath for a second. "I know you wont tell me where he would go, and therefore would die here because of it. Frankly, I can care less about him, but as much as I hate to say it, I owe you so much that I can't just let you die. So I'm going to help you escape."

The Uchiha was surprised with this sudden request. "But why? If they find out, they'll kill you too!"

"Please, ever since I lost my first fight to you, I was thinking on a way to regain my lost honor. If that means to save your miserable ass, than I'll do it. That and… (ahem) … you were the only person I could call a friend. Mushy crap aside, these people were becoming pricks anyways."

"Thanks." He said, getting up. "I was planning on doing it anyways if it wasn't for the fact of the odds where against me. Just knock out the guard, and I'll make my escape."

Kisame nodded and left, and Itachi stood near the door wincing a bit from his arm. In a second, he heard a persons bone crack and the door fling opened, Kisame with a grin, and Deidara unconscious. "Now lets get outta here."

-As Kisame and Itachi ran 10 miles from the base, a mile away they heard commotion.-

Angry yells filled the air as the two ran as best as Itachi could in his current state.

"They'll be on us soon." Itachi said.

Kisame growled, "Then I'll have to hold them off while you run." But Itachi wasn't going to have it.

"If you stay and fight, they will kill you."

Kisame stopped and said "Then after this consider us even for all the times you saved my life. Now pain or not, run as fast as you can, and don't look back."

Itachi nodded and ran, pushing his body much harder and wincing because of it. Making great time, he already cleared a mile by the time Kisame saw his former organisation.

"Well, lets see how I can fare with my superiors. _Water style: Grand Whirlpool technique!_"

…

-As Itachi made it to the outskirts of the city, an explosion was heard far off.-

Itachi walked through the nearby forest and propped himself against a tree.

'Now how do I get in, and more importantly to a hospital?'

Then an Anbu member in a weasel mask jumped down in front of the gate, saying, "What was that?" to himself.

Itachi just looked up and mouthed out 'Thank you' before activating the Sharingan.

…

-Noon back at the tower within the forest of death. -

Naruto stood there along with a small crowd of ninjas impatiently as the last few ninjas arrived. Having to wait all night, he was finally ready to see how everyone will fight.

"All right, everyone welcome to the third part of the exams." Said a sickly looking proctor. "My names Hayate Gekkou, and before (Coughs) we start, is there anyone who wants to leave? This part of the exam will be difficult as we will pair (Cough) you genin against each other."

"I would like to drop out." Said a silver haired nin that once again struck Naruto as familiar.

"Anyone else?" Naruto would gladly offer his clones, if he would of remembered them. In the end it was easier to say that a giant snake ate them.

"Alright," coughed Hayate, "well then, because there are so many of you, this round will be the preliminary to the final exam. We will use a computer (points to the giant monitor) to randomly choose who would fight whom. Now that should be it, so lets get the first match started."

The computer flashed the names across until it landed on… Temari vs. Zaku Abumi.

The two nin jumped from the balconey to the ring and gave each other a glare (which was a bit hard for the boy because of a patch over a black eye).

Hayate lifted arm as the two got into battle position and said, "Fight… Begin!"

Temari wasted no time in whipping her huge fan and using her air power to send a blast to Zaku who wasn't expecting another wind user, so took the first hit head on, sending him crashing towards a wall. At the last possible second, he used the 'wind cutter jutsu' to soffen the blow.

While still against the wall, he kicked off (still using his jutsu like a rocket to propel himself) and flew to the kunoichi. Concentrating, she folded up her fan and swung its iron side smacking the sound nin across the face. It flung the boy across the room and landed directly on… Anko, knocking her down.

He saw birds for a moment, then whom he was on top of, and finally a hand, which sent him flying once again to the opposite side of the room at an extreme speed onto his back crushing the wall.

'…Nice shot.' Naruto thought as he laughed a little. Hayate ran across to the down boy to see if he was still alive. Eyes wide, knocked out, and had a bit of a nosebleed, the proctor announced "Temari Wins."

Temari joined her siblings as the computer brought up the next match…

Neji Hyuga vs Rock Lee.


	14. Fight! Lee's Destiny

_I hate this chapter!_

Itachi: Alright, what are you yelling about now?

Trying to make a fight scene. Only theres the fact I had 2 weeks and _this_ is all I could come up with.

Itachi: Wow you suck.

Not helping...

Itachi: Right. Well, I guess nows the best time to announce a little thing the authors doing. He put a poll on his profile page on what story he should do next after this, although theres still a long way to go. So try and enjoy the chapter that contains little imagination!

...

Ch. 12: Fight! Lees Destiny.

"Rock Lee vs Neji Hyuga, fight… Begin!" Hayate called to the two rivals.

Neji got into the gentle fist possession but not before giving a small grin. "Well Lee, it appears destiny has already chosen me to continue this exam. Just don't take it too personal when I beat you again."

Lifting his hand, Lee shook his head. "No I won't, because today I _will beat you no matter what_. I will become a splendid ninja yet, and show you that hard work will triumph!"

"I can't believe you still honestly believe that garbage. Honestly, like out of all our fights, you still haven't even come remotely close to beating me. Given every thing I have ever seen from you, you are unable to even perform jutsu. It's a wonder how can you even qualify to be a ninja, other than to become a distraction."

Unknowingly to Lee, he was clenching his fist so hard he could _feel_the life starting to seep out of it. "Well unlike them, I trained with Guy-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. Let me show you what I learned."

"Try it. By-." But before Neji could activate his bloodline limit, Rock Lee dashed in on impulse attacking the Hyuga during the only point of venerability.

"_Leaf Cyclone_!" Jumping, Lee preformed and landed 3 solid kicks to the face. Still in motion, he landed on his hands and use them to start spinning rapidly like a top while both Lee's legs where flung out, lashing at its target until Lee had no momentum left, forcing him to flip back to stand up to see his target.

Neji stood there clearly angered, and untouched. Lee thought with grimace, 'I kind of guessed he could anticipate my moves.'

"I was going to finish this quickly, but now I will show you how much suffering fate can bring." The Hyuga sneered. "_Byakugan Gentle fist technique: 8 trigrams 64 palms_!"

He landed every hit flawlessly onto Lee who, in return, was paralyzed and could only stare wide eyed until the final blow blasted him into a near-by wall, leaving a dent slightly larger than the one the sound nin left.

"Proctor…he's finished." Said Neji once Rock Lees body fell to the ground. "I hit him at every chakra point on his body. He couldn't move even if he…" he slowly stopped as Lee slowly got up. "…Wait…How? How can you move after that attack!?"

"Its because…" Lee coughed, "I have a reason to fight, to prove to myself and everyone else that anything can be accomplished through dedication. That is also the biggest thing that separates us Neji."

The Hyuga gave a small smirk and decided to humor his opponent. "And just how do you figure that? Because destiny already chosen that you lose this fight?"

"Destiny…" replied Lee, lifting his head. "That word is your shield. Everything is…predetermined. No Neji. The difference between us is that I worked for what I have, but you where born with everything. Special abilities, a reputation, and Kami knows what else that I never had before. I suppose that your 'destiny' was really harsh."

"Shut up." The Hyuga hissed. "You know nothing-."

"I suppose I don't, but I never made a pitiful excuse to why life never gone my way, no matter how bad it became. That's what separates us." Lee spoke as he reached down to his orange leg warmers, "A man creates his own destiny, and a pathetic fool does nothing to make his."

This sent Neji over the edge as he ran forward with fury burning in his eyes with a chakra charged open palm ready to deliver the final fatal blow…

Yet Rock Lee quickly pulled out what was hiding in his leg warmers with a grin. "Neji, catch!" he called as he tossed out two heavy sets of weights. The Hyuga dogged it effortlessly and when he was almost to Lee, Lee vanished from thin air.

"What the?" was all Neji could muster before receiving a roundhouse kicked to the chest.

Managing to regain himself before he hit the ground, Neji looked back at the spot from where he was hit to see Rock Lee stand there smiling.

"And now," finished Lee, "I'll show you the truth of my words." And he blurred out in pure speed to reappear under Neji, delivering a kick that sent him into the air. Jumping up, Rock Lee loosened his arms bandages as he stopped right behind the Hyuga. "_Primary Lotus!_"

The bandages all of a sudden engulfed Nejis body as its owner gained speed while drilling down to the earth at high speeds, and the ground shook as they made impact. As dust, dirt, and rubble blasted up as Lee back flipped out, he breathed heavily as he looked at the small cloud cleared out. Once it did, there was Neji face down onto the rock floor.

"Rock Lee wins!" Hayate called out as medical ninja rushed out to the field to check on the Hyuga (They diagnosed that he had a mild concussion that would take a month or so till he woke up). As for Lee, he was crying with happiness. "I DID IT GUY-SENSI! I BEAT NEJI! I'M CLOSER TO BEING A SPLENDED NINJA! I'm…" he collapsed onto his back. "Dead tired." He laughed.

…

-Meanwhile back at the Akatsuki hideout…-

…

Kisame was tied to a chair in the middle of the torture cell that Itachi was in, facing Pein. After the fight, Kisame as unable to hold off the others for even a minute, and was quickly taken down. This small amount of time though was enough for them to loose track of the Uchiha however, and now they only have the fish man for info. Unlike last time though, only the leader was retrieving the Intel, and he couldn't break Kisame's spirit with torture, only mind, as he could also resist physical pain.

"Tell me where the Uchiha and demon boy went!" Pien barked. Normally he kept his cool, but this wasn't any normal circumstance.

"Went bye! Went to their last sanctuary. I LIKE MUFFINS (XD)!"

"This is getting us nowhere." Sasori called from behind the door. "After all your sessions, I would be surpised if he had a sane thought in his head."

"No…" Pien thought out loud, quickly going back to normal. "He keeps saying the same thing. A sanctuary… sanctuary…" Then Itachi headband flashed into his mind. "…The answer was before me the whole time. Sasori, gather the others. We need to think of a plan."

As he walked out of the room, the puppet man looked back in to see Kisame laughing madly to himself.

"What about him?"

"Leave him." Answered Pien. "Let him rot for his treachery ('and possibly for our own safety. The insane tend to become more dangerous.') and also tell the others that our targets are at their sanctuary. At the village hidden in the Leaf."

…

-Back at the arena-

…

Over the cource of an hour and a half the following fights took place:

Shino vs. Kin:

Winner: Kin by using her ability of sound to ward off the insects.

Sakura vs. Sasuke

Winner without putting up much of a fight: Sasuke

Tenten vs. Kiba

Winner: Tenten, although barely.

Ino vs. Hinata

Winner: Ino by a combo of a smokescreen and mind transfer jutsu to force Hinata to quit.

Choji vs. Kankuro

Winner: Kankuo, as Choji was a 'big' target for crow's blades.

Gaara vs. Dosu

Winner: Garra in 5 seconds through fatality.

Which left the final fight: Narachi of the Shade vs. Shikamaru Nara.


	15. The Will of Shade

Alright, new chapter up just to make sure that I'm still alive. Thanks to my high school senior project, I might not be able to update often.

Itachi: Thats alright. No one would be waiting for the updates anyways. Your just like the game Duke Nukem forever. You put up hype, never come out, and eventually everyone forgets the disapointment that you bring.

...

Ch. 13: The Will of Shade.

As Naruto and Shikamaru stood facing each other on the field while the proctor had a coughing fit; Shikamaru decided to use this little amount of time to talk to this 'Narachi' and to try to find out if he could squeeze out even the smallest hint to his strengths or weaknesses.

"So Narachi," he began, "it was interesting to see you use the Shadow possession jutsu from before. I thought that only my clan knew it." As the boy didn't answer, the Nara was starting to be unnerved as the expressionless mask stared him down. "Tell me where you learned it."

"A book." He said simply, almost mockingly.

Shikamaru sighed. 'Guess I'll have to try to win then.'

Finally, Hayate yelled, "Fight begin!" and Naruto ran. He threw punches and kicks but Shikamaru calmly dogged all of it with his hands in his pockets.

'This kid's good,' Naruto thought, 'so I'll have try harder.' He stopped throwing his punches and jumped back a bit so a few feet separated the two ninjas. Forming a few hand sighs, Naruto said, "Darkness summoning: accursed souls." The black tar quickly flooded out from under Narutos cloak and spread a good length around his body. "Tell me Shikamaru, do you know this one?"

The tar bubbled as decaying hands and bodies slowly crawled out, ready for battle. The Temari and Kankuro on the sidelines cringed, while all the other groups where in shock, and all the adults' tensed up, not knowing what to expect from this unknown jutsu.

"Attack."

All the decaying forms lunged out and Shikamaru tried to doge and kick them away. It was easy to kill 'em, but he saw that when one 'died,' two more appeared. 'Attacking isn't working,' The Nara thought, 'so maybe it would be easier to go for the source.'

He leapt over the creatures to Narachi and threw a kunai at his head. Surprisingly, it connected as Naruto was concentrating, dispelling the creatures and causing them to fall apart into nothing. The boy ripped out the tool from the top of his mask, reveling a few strands of yellow hair.

"You shouldn't have done that." Naruto said quietly. "You know, I think it's time to end this game. Shadow possession-."

"_Shadow possession jutsu!_" Shikamaru yelled out, and at both sides the shade lurched out grabbing their victim.

After this, things started to go wrong.

Both ninja where screaming out in pain while the connecting shadows pulsed and squirmed as parts of their bodies where crushed by the nearly invisible force.

At the sidelines, Ino looked down at her partner in pain. "Sarutobi-sensi, whats going on?"

Asuma tried to look calm while he replied. "Well we know about the Shadow possession Technique and how it controls its opponent. Yet under this unusual circumstance, the jutsu is uncontrolled from both sides and in its own way trying to overpower the other. My guess is that there are two ways to stop it. One is that they run out of chakra, or they are…eventually crushed to death."

"Well why don't we move them away from each other? Then-."

"No, you can't move them. Not in this state. What we would need to do is stop their chakra flow. Medics!" Asuma yelled to a few standing in the corner, "Find some way to seal their chakra!" A few nodded and ran up to them, only to be blown back when a piece of shadow randomly lashed out.

"So what now?" Ino muttered, "If we cant even get close…"

"I don't know…I just don't."

And then the boys collapsed.

Everyone was silent as the medics finally made it to the genin to see if they where still alive. As they checked, the whole building was silent; Hayate wasn't even coughing. They first checked the Nara.

"Everyone… he's alive. We think there was a few broken bones and that he exhausted his energy, but alive."

A few people where relieved, and Asuma and Ino found themselves holding their breaths.

As Shikamaru was carried away, they checked Narachi.

Then his body poofed away.

There where a few gasps as of what happened; Narachi walked out from under the staircase to the middle of the field clapping. "Well that was entertaining! I tell you I was kept at the edge of my seat the whole time, but I knew how it would end. A shadow clone lasts for only so long."

Hayate was confused, but he knew the last one standing wins. "Winner, Narachi of the shade."

And everyone stared at the boy with hate or fear, because of the power the _clone_ had, except for Gaara and Sasuke. They saw a true challenge.

…After the Hokage broke the silence, told everyone where and when to meet, everyone left for home…

Later, 10 p.m. …

The Hokage entered his dimly lit office thinking to himself that, quite frankly, these new genin just plain scared him. He headed for his desk to finish some nearly overdue paper work ('Kami, I hate my job.') but stopped when he felt a presence behind him.

"Don't worry Hokage. I just wanted to talk."

The old man relaxed a bit when he heard that voice.

"I suppose I've been overdue for it. Anyways, I'm surprised to see that you're here…

Itachi."


	16. Filler this way comes

Alright everyone. I am sorry for the extremely long wait only to get this... but it's getting real hard just to stay focused.

Itachi: If it's hard to stay focused, why don't you use the shockey monkey I got for you? There are children all over the world who whould give their left leg for that monkey!

I hate monkeys!

(The monkey walked by carrying a suitcase with its nose in the air, clearly insulted and left the house, slamming the door behind it.)

Itachi running after it: Monkey come back!

... Well... enjoy what I got...

Ch. 14: Filler this way comes. And a crappy one at that!

As it was, Itachi told the surprisingly calm Hokage how things where while in the Akatsuki and his reason for coming home, which the old man merely nodded to.

"Yes, I have realized that after I used my crystal ball to keep watch over these… questionable visitors of ours." Said the Hokage. "Imagine on how shocked I was seeing that child once he removed his mask."

"Wait, Naruto _is_here? Where, and what mask?" Asked Itachi.

"Just a gas mask, and he's safe and sound in a nearby motel. What I want to know is when did you encounter him, and why he came back, but lets save that for later. Right now, I need to find out what to do with you…"

"I know, I'll stay at the family home with Sasuke, I'm sure he wont mind." Itachi joked. "Hey, how's he doing any way?"

"Living depressed and alone with the only thing on his mind is to destroy you."

"Then I think he needs a new hobby… And Hokage, did I do the right thing, all those years ago? And shouldn't we have told Sasuke that our clan was to…"

"Itachi." The Hokage said sternly, "I won't lie and say that I slept easy on the day I gave the assignment of their execution, but it was for the best of the village and probably for the whole land for their deaths. There was overwhelming evidence from the Hyuga elders about the Uchiha's ambitions. I do weep for the innocent, but we wouldn't need their revenge. Now, since you will be staying here, you will need to keep the Anbu disguise up and try to not interact with the villagers unless you must. The last thing we need is a riot because you decided do socialize. That goes for Naruto and double for Sasuke."

Itachi nodded and left the old man to himself.

'…Now what was I going to get? Oh yes…'

He quietly made his way to his desk and opened the drawer after making sure he was alone, and pulled out a copy of Make Out Paradise.

As he left the office with the book hidden, Sarutobi thought 'Kami I hate myself for this. Damn you Jiraiya for making this story so interesting.'

---

And so, Itachi stealthily made his way back to the family mansion thinking 'It should be abandoned. I mean, who in their right mind would stay at the place that a few hundred people have been brutally murdered?'

Of course, after looking through a window, he found Sasuke there.

Sitting in the main hall with only a few candles lighting up the area, he just stared into space, old family scrolls scattered around.

'Look at him.' Itachi thought, 'Thinks he's truly alone in the world, and oblivious to the reason why… Maybe it _is _time I laid a few breadcrumbs to allow him to start searching for the truth, and possibly put his mind at ease. Or make things worse, but I think its worth a shot.'

With a small grin he walked off, ready to shine some light for Sasuke on his family's past.

----Meanwhile on the next day---

Naruto walked to the training grounds to brush up on his skills, and plan on what to do during the three month wait until the finals of the exams.

'I still see no meaning for you to wait until then.' Mumbled the fox, clearly bored out of his mind.

'You have to understand humans first. This I going to be a huge event that almost everyone in the village will attend. It is then things will be easier for me to make my appearance and take my revenge.'

'Ha, revenge. You talk of it, but I can tell your heart will not be in it. Whatever, as long as something happens.'

As the cloaked boy made his way through town, he noticed a box made to look like a rock (quite pathetically) with eyeholes stalk him. 'Now this is sad.' After drawing a lot of unwanted attention to himself, Naruto shouted to the box once they arrived at the forest;

"Alright, what do you want?!"

"Oh, so you could see through my disguise? You really are good." The boy came out from underneath and was at once recognized as the kid Kankuro was going to beat up. "Anyways, let me just cut to the chase, I want you to teach me how to fight as no one is as cool as you!"

"…Well I'm …flattered that you think so." Naruto said, a bit confused. "But I'm no teacher. And is it really smart to ask a complete stranger, who in the end could easily slash your throat and throw away your corps into the middle of the forest? I don't think so."

"It's not like you can." He said quite cockily, "After all, I'm Konohamaru, the grandson of the 3rd hokage so I'd watch what I would say."

With a sigh Naruto walked up to the kid, and kicked him in the head sending him flying into some trees.

Shakily getting up from the blow, Konohamaru rubbed his head, which was bleeding. "Wh-what you do that for?" the question on the borderline of fear and anger.

The emotionless mask looked at the child. "I need to know if I will be wasting my time with you, because I have better stuff to do. So if we train, before you punch, run, or crawl, you must learn how to DODGE!" And Naruto swung his fist out to Konohamaru's head.

He didn't dodge, but he sure could take a hit.

Naruto shook his head as the kid curled up in pain. 'Well, now I'll have something to do…'


	17. Ch 15: Time skip to the real finals

Within this storys fight scene, it will show that I watch too many horror flicks. Plus the chapter is longer than normal, to make up the fact I don't post new chapters often.

Itachi: Lets face it, your lazy and uncreative. Now wrap things up with the whole story and call it a life.

You know, one day you will die horrifically, and finally be out of my hair for good. [Epic Foreshadowing]

Itachi: Well this chapter makes _you_ seem more emo than my brother!

...I need a hug...

Itachi: Good luck with that. I already got some from the reviewers so _there_!

...Anyways enjoy the chapter.

Ch. 15: Time skip to the final, final exams.

The past few months for Naruto where interesting indeed. Naruto gave up training Konohamaru after the first week and met the boys real teacher, a somewhat shady man by the name of Ebisu who was panicked stricken once he found his student, who managed to avoid the other for the whole time.

Naruto at once saw that this man was a bit of a joke with his methods of teaching Konohamaru (not like Naruto was any better), so he let Ebisu take back the child to the hokage.

The rest of the first month was relatively quiet as he worked on his training schedule but over time his mind began to wander over his stay and revenge scheme…

…

Naruto laid on his back looking over the sky in a part of the forest he can truly call secluded thinking of things that has happened so far. Running away from the Akatsuki and Itachi, meeting the fox for the first time, and meeting a few people in this town. Sometimes he forgot why. Why did he want revenge? Do these people deserve a second chance? If he ever shown himself, would they ever accept him for him?

'No, I suppose not.' He mused. Thinking more of the Akatsuki, Narutos mind slowley drifted to the sound ninja from the forest of death. The boy still couldn't shake the strange feeling they had when they were around. That feeling of a snake…

This problem started to knaw away at his mind before finally giving into the mystery.

"Shadow clone jutsu."

As the copy appeared into existance, Naruto gave it its' orders.

"Find the two sound ninja and gather any information about them. I don't know why, but I feel something is going to happen and they will be involved. Something big…"

The clone nodded and headded off, and it wasn't untill the second month he returned with grave news.

…Meanwhile with Itachi…

The older Uchiha walked through the old halls of the mansion as memories filled the corridors. The many times the two sibilings played with each other and their parents, the day he heard the news of what his clan was prepared to do in the nearby future… and what he had to do to prevent it.

'Sasuke has to know. Even if it changes nothing between us, the truth may help stop any future possibilitys of an hostil takeover from another clan like those damn Hyuga. After all, when a group becomes too powerfull…'

Itachi ended up in the main hall, with some of the old family memoribreallia laying around gathering dust. The man walked over to a table and picked up an old pictureframe of himself with his family, and couldn't help feel a single tear swell up in a eye. He slid the picture out and grabbed the nearest pen, scribbling the following onto the back of the photograph:

"To whoever finds this message, search Itachis room. The truth must be known!"

and slid it back. 'Might be a bit cryptic, but hopefully it will grab my brothers attenton.' Rigging the picture to fall, Itachi made his way back to his old room. Before he commited the deed all those years ago, Itachi created some papers and a video to explane his posission to the world (which would be against the hokages wishes as it would turn out) and hid in various places that no one would ever look at.

Itachi tore at the carpet and removed some floor paniling and saw all his documents, safe and sound. Replaceing everything (except a corner of carpet) he left, ready for Sasukes own judgement on the past.

…Time skip to the exams…

The 8 remaining ninja stood in the middle of a coliseum as the village inhabitants and visitors alike filled the seats until the place was jam-packed. From under his mask Naruto gazed at the citizens, many already cheering for their favorite person to fight and win, or just for the "test" to start.

'Ahhh, with all of this wretched village in one place your revenge would be easy to execute.' Said the demon fox, relishing the fact the time has finally came to butcher every man, woman, and child. The promise of screams in the air and chaos that will follow made the creature restless. Naruto himself was starting to have doubts, but shook it off as the next proctor walked up before them.

"Hello everyone, it is time for the final exam! The following would be a battle for the each of you, except… with a odd number of people, one of you must go twice. Any volunteers?"

At the question, Naruto and Rock Lee shot their hands in the air. "OHH, PICK ME SIR!" Lee practically begged, all just to show he can be just as a good a ninja as any of the others. Naruto scoffed at the notion.

"Please, I saw your last battle. If this would end like the other, you wouldn't have the energy to get off the ground. So don't delude yourself in thinking your in the same league as the rest of these jokes of an ninja, let alone myself."

This comment earned the boy hate-glares from the other combatants, but Lee exploded.

"You think I cannot stand up to the challenge?! Well I will show you just how good I am!"

The proctor just grinned nervously as he tried to calm them down. "Now now, leave the violence for the upcoming battles."

"Sir!" Lee said, "I have a request, let me fight this Narachi guy in the first battle! Then let the winner to fight the extra battle."

"You just can't do that. All these battles were pre-determined and made based on your strengths and weaknesses-."

"Let me fight him." Said Naruto. "I don't mind crushing his spirit."

The proctor was about to give a remark, but gave up. Something told him that they would do it anyways and get kicked out for it, so what would be the point?

"Alright. Let me change the matches…. Now the following battles will take place in order. Narachi vs. Rock Lee, Temari vs. Ino, Sasuke against Garra… wait, where's Sasuke?"

"Don't worry, he'll be here!" Ino just shot out quickly. She didn't know where he was, or what he was doing, but she still wanted to watch him and show Sasuke she wasn't as pathetic as Sakura.

"Right, but if he isn't here by then, he's disqualified. Then it would leave Tenten vs. Kankuro. Kin of the sound would fight the winner of the first match, or Garra if the Uchiha doesn't show. Now those who are not fighting, stay out of the arena until it's your match. Now for the first fight!" He announced to the crowd.

Cheers erupted from all around as Naruto and Lee got ready for the face off.

"Ready?" The cheers got louder and it was apparent that the guy was milking it for all its worth. "FIGHT!" and he jumped back to safety.

Naruto crossed his arms as Lee ran forward and delivered a flying kick that could shatter bones to Narutos face, and a sickening crack followed, as the boys head snapped back and black tentacles shot out of the neck, grabbing Lees limbs.

This truly caught him off guard and he struggled to get out, but Narutos arms got up, grabbed it's captive, and tossed him onto the ground.

Lee shot up, brushing dirt from his face as he look horrified at Naruto.

"What are you?"

Narutos arms slowly rose to his chest as he pierced it with his fingers and slowly tore them apart, allowing more black tentacles of smoke and tar to push out.

'Oh my lord.' Lee thought, stepping back. 'Am I fighting with a demon?'

The black mass consumed the body and grew into a somewhat larger human shaped creature. It thrust a fist at Rock Lee, which shot out from the arm. The green devil managed to jump aside as the fist made a crater as the smoke dissolved.

Lee ran around the creature as it continued to punch and miss, trying to find an opening and hope that it would harm the thing. Running around, Lee hopped onto its "back" and head, and got in a few crushing punches just to be swatted off like a bug.

"Hehehe. That tickles." Said as Narutos head seeped out of the creature's chest.

"What are you? What is that thing?" Lee demanded.

Naruto laughed some more. "Its just the darkness, overcharged with charka to make it physical and dense. Here's some friendly advise, give up. There is no way you can beat me." With his laughter becoming more maniacal as his head sunk back into the creature.

Rock Lee was getting ready to attack the head some more but was caught off guard as shadow tentacles erupted from under his feet, latching onto his legs. Lee struggled to get them off as the creature walked forward, the tentacles from under its feet ripped through the earth. 'Guy-sensei, even though I was on Kakashis team, you still treated me like a member of your team. And that final move you taught me, I must use it here. I must release the _Inner Gates_!'

The shadow creature stood before Lee with a giant fist raised. "And this is the end of…"

"_The Eight Gates; Gate of Opening_ open!" In a burst of strength, Lee forced himself back before the fist came down. "_Gate of Healing_ open!"

Rock Lee ran around, ripping the tentacles from the ground causing the creature to fall over and be dragged around, with worried pleads from Naruto inside, "No! Wait, stop! What are you doing?!"

"I'll stop when I win! _Gate of Life_ open!" Lees skin turned red, and Naruto's reply was "Oh fuc-."

Lee jumped into the air pulling Naruto along and as soon they were high enough, Lee kicked, punched, and slammed the creature turning it into some type of demonic paddleball as it was tossed everywhere but the tentacles still retained its death grip.

"_Gate of__ Pain_ open!" Lee intensified the hits until the thing finally released its grip, crashing to the ground.

The darkness dissolved around Naruto, as he started to feel the fatigue setting in. 'This kid can move. Hey fox, its time for me to get some of your strength. I won't play with this guy anymore.'

A new surge of power coursed through Narutos veins (not enough to set off alarms or to allow anyone to feel the demons energy) and he started forming hand signs while Lee still fell to the earth. "_Darkness Summoning: Inner Demons_." And from under his cloak the black smoke flowed everywhere. In moments, the whole arena was completely covered as Rock Lee finally hit the ground.

Screams accompanied the darkness as hellish creatures were everywhere, and Lee spent no time on waiting. With kicks and punches, he destroyed all he came across until none were left.

"Narachi! Where are you!!!" Rock Lee screamed, as he felt his body already start to shut down.

"Hehehaha." Narutos voice echoed everywhere. "Soon you shall see why mankind should always be afraid of the dark." And using the Darkness Summoning genjutsu, Naruto created a personal hell for Lee….

Rock Lee wandered around for his opponent but had no luck. He could barely see the ground! Straining his ears, he heard a familiar voice. "Lee! What are you doing?"

"Guy-sensei?" At this his body stopped using the Eight Gates, so he stumbled around to the source of his teachers voice. Eventually, he came across a form that was shaped like; "Guy-sensei! What are you doing in the arena?"

Guy looked at him. "Lee! What are you doing? Find your opponent and finish-urgh!" A tentacle wrapped around his neck and Naruto was there, the glass ports of the mask gazing inhumanly at Lee.

"Lee, help me!" Guy choked, trying to pull away. Lee tried to run in but his body said otherwise.

"Lee," Naruto said, "If you don't quit, this man will die ten thousand ways."

"You-you wouldn't!"

With a laugh, Naruto pulled out a kuni and slit his hostages throat and Lee saw it all.

"NO!!!"

Naruto and Guy vanished while hundreds more appeared, surrounding the poor child. Each one killed the teacher in a different way and Lee held his head to the ground, sobbing "Stop…Please stop. I'll do anything, but please stop."

Naruto bent down to Lee and muttered "All you have to say is that you quit, and all this will go away."

"…I'm done. I quit."

"Louder."

"I surrender."

"Louder!"

"I quit!"

"LOUDER!"

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! JUST STOP THIS!"

"Than so be it."

With a quick hand sign the darkness disappeared, leaving a crowd to speculate what was going on as all they heard was the pleads to stop. Naruto looked at the weeping child and then to the proctor. "Were finished here."

"Ugh… okay. Narachi of the shade wins!" And Naruto quietly left as Guy and team went down to check up on Lee, who frightened himself unconscious. He only looked back once, sickened that the battle had to end like it did.


	18. The Fate of Konoha

Yes! The battle for Konoka is now! This is where everyone's true colors are shown, and where their true allience is made or braked.

Itachi: It is also where dry humor and aweful melodrama fight it out for chapter supremacy.

...Sure. Anyways, I was going to make this THE final chapter, but it became to long with so much happening I have to give out one more to wrap things up. I have to thank all my readers for sticking around for so long dispite the errors found throughout the story (I want to fix it, but I just don't have the time), and this chapter may be no diffrent (because my mind was at so many diffrent places and there was a lot of procrastination...). And there is still the fact of "What happened when Naruto wasn't here?" Well I'm planning a spinnoff story called:

(Dun dun dun DUN!)

'The Marvelous Misadventures of Sasuke!' Staring the Uchiha brothers! It's still in planning, so no real details can be told yet. And Lastly, I would like to thank XiaBubbleQueen, Ichigo Mirai, flame55, and KMT for their constant support for my story. Without them, I may not have had the patience to finish. Plus I became quite addicted to revews.

Itachi: Don't worry, there's rehab for that.

Anyways, hopefully everyone can enjoy the chapter. So without further ado, I present...

Ch. 16: FINAL BATTLE; The Fate of Konoha

The crowd continued to cheer, more than ready for more entertainment that the ninja were sure to bring. The proctor gave a huge grin as he called out the next combatants.

"Well all righty then! It is time for the next battle! Please come down Temari of the sand village…."

And she corked-screwed jumped from the high levels of the stadium and glided to her spot.

"… And our own Ino Yamanaka!"

As she jumped down with cheering support of the village, the proctor gave a smirk. "Now ready? FIGHT!"

…Meanwhile….

The sound Kunoichi Kin looked down from the arena rooms from under the stands.

'This fight would be a joke. As for my own….'

Flashes of _his_ fight and their last encounter sort of haunted her. She might have had a chance if it was that spandex wearing freak, but this guy…

She shuddered. 'He must not be human.'

Things became quiet except for her own thoughts. She closed her eyes and wondered on how in the world she would win her fight… then noticed that it really was quiet. No sound of the cheering crowd, the coming of jutsus or battle. Kin shot her eyes open and saw nothing out of the windows.

Only total darkness.

'N-no… He can't be here. Please say I passed out-."

And two fists picked her up, spun her around and pined her to the wall. The sound nin struggled to look at her attacker, heart slowly filling with hate and fear as she spat out his name; "Narachi."

The cold glare of the gas mask looked at her. "You… Now I know that feeling when I saw you and your friends. It came right off your teacher. Orochimaru."

Her heart skipped a beat. How did he know?

"I sent a spy to watch over the two of you twenty-four-seven over the last few months." Naruto continued, holding on harder to the struggling Kin. "Yet the only thing I don't know are his plans. It would be in your best interest to tell me, because whatever it is could be disastrous for us all."

She smirked. "Of course it will. Orochimaru will rain a doom upon this place and have his own revenge. And Zaku and I will be at his side, proud to be his weapons."

Naruto shook his head as he let go of her.

"You poor deluded fool. You think you are important enough to him to even be considered as his tool. Once he gets what he wants, you and any other would be discarded like trash. He would gladly kill you without a second thought if it meant furthering his own goals."

Now it was Kins turn to pin him to the wall, screaming into his face "That's not true! He saved me when I was little when my village was attacked! When my family…."

"And who do you think started it?"

"I don't know… but he's a hero! He rescued me." Her mind wandered off a bit and when her focus returned the guy was gone, replaced by a log.

The mad cheers returned as the shadows disappeared, quickly became defining as she returned to the window as she finished watching the current fight. 'What's with that guy, and did he threaten me, or was it really just a warning? But what does he care and know? Orochimaru is like a father, and I shall still stand by his side.' Yet for some reason, she felt a little unsure now…

…Back in the Arena…

Ino stood behind a tree for cover and to catch her breath. Whatever she threw at Temari didn't work, she couldn't get close to land a hit, and her _Mind Transfer Jutsu_ wasn't fast enough to hit, plus that girl already saw it once so she can anticipate it! So, things were not going well. 'Ohhhh, if only I listened more to my dad during our training….'

Temari stood at the other end of the arena without a single scratch and called out; "Hey, are we still fighting? 'Cause this is getting _really_ sad now…"

And Ino jumped from her position and dashed to her opponent.

"Oh please." Temari continued, getting bored. She didn't even bother opening up her fan as she swung it at Inos head, who in turn didn't dodge. _But the attack sailed right on through!_

"A clone!?"

Five more appeared and ran in different directions as Temari opened her fan. "Enough with these games, it's time I put an end to this right now!" With a huge wave of the titanic fan blew right through the clones until it found the real one and knocked her out.

The proctor waited a bit before he called its end. "This anti-climatic battle is finally over. Think I almost nodded off a bit too. Err…TEMARI IS THE WINNER! Now the battle between Garra and Sasuke Uchiha! … As soon as the Uchiha shows…" He finished as Garra appeared from behind in a cloud of sand, starting to creep out the man.

"I'm right here." A voice called from high on top of the stadium, and with a jump while being followed with swirling leafs was Sasuke.

"Love to make a bit of an entrance hmm? And just how long were you up there anyways, because all the stuff that's going on is…you know…here."

"Just got here. I was a bit busy dealing with some family secrets."

The proctor had a bit of a shine in his eye when Sasuke said it. "You don't say… Anyways, the fight must go on. NOW IS EVRYONE READY FOR SOME ACTION?! The next match starts now! FIGHT!!!"

The crowd cheered in frenzy as this battle seemed like the one they where waiting for and without warning Sasuke went at it. In a dash towards Garra, Sasuke jumped in the air and spun upside down delivering a kick to the sand village nin, for it to be blocked by a pillar of sand. This repeated a few times with the same effect until Sasuke decided it was time to change tactics.

With a few back flips, he got enough ground to use "Fire technique: Blaze of Glory." In a few hand signs, Garra was engulfed in flame and heat as Sasuke held the jutsu for a while. When it finally ended, Garra and his sand were glass with shock etched across its face. "Not all that tough, hmm? If I knew it was going to be this easy-."

His gloating was cut short when a hand made of sand and stone grabbed Sasuke and tossed him in the air, however he wasn't surprised in the least. He only regained himself with a back flip, landed on the ground and continued his attacks to no avail. Garra only hid behind his sand and counterattacked when given the chance as the Uchiha didn't let his own guard down and kept moving.

"Damn, none of my attacks are making it! How can I pierce through his defenses…. That's it!" Running around the sand nin and up towards the wall and hanging there for a moment, lightning formed around Sasuke's hand as he yelled out "_CHIDORI_!"

…

Garra knew what was going to happen, so as quickly as he could, he formed walls and a cocoon of sand around himself for the utmost protection while starting out his own most powerful technique.

…

Naruto stood upon the sidelines, the demon fox inside becoming restless.

'What is it with you? Calm down, you're making me fidgety.'

'**There's a demon out there. I can smell it, _feel_ it. It's coming out, and excited about it. I don't know when, but it's soon and willing to make a big entrance**.'

However, the boy disregarded the paranoid creature as he became fixated on the fight as Sasuke hopped on the wall and created the lightning attack ('I need to learn how to do that.') as Garra made his walls. Then off like a bullet, the Uchiha shot off the wall, dodging and weaving around the obstacles as he closed in onto the ball that held Garra…

When the attack hit, everything was dead silent. Naruto even found himself holding his breath as a small voice aroused from the middle of the field. Softly enough but quickly grew was this voice: "Blood…? My blood? MY BLOOD!!" Garra's screams of pain, fear, and a bit of disbelief _shook_ the ground of the stadium and as if one cue ninjas with sound symbols on their headbands jumped from parts of the crowd as bystanders or Anbu and as Naruto's eyes glided up as he watched them spring into action towards the Hokages and…Orochimaru?

"So the snake planed for this to happen?"

'**Keep focused brat! The other demon, or rather his vessel, is escaping**!'

'But the Hokage-!'

'**So what? Everyone here will die anyway**!'

Naruto screamed at himself. 'Screw it. Call me a hypocrite, but now I know what I have to do now. Save these people, from what I seen they deserve a second chance.'

'**So I waited this whole time to for a blood bath just to get nothing?**'

Naruto's eyes watched Orochimaru and the Hokage talk, both in a fighting stance.

'I wouldn't say that.'

…

Kin ran to the hospital to get Zaku to get ready for the fight. 'That slob is probably sleeping the fight away. It's not like he's still wounded, and we have a mission to finish with that one boy.'

She ran to his room and kicked in the door. "Hey Zaku! Get out-." She stopped herself when she saw him being held up by the neck by Kabuto.

"And my job just gets easier." He said with a smirk, holding a scalpel.

"What the?"

"Orochimaru needs some sacrifices. You two happened to get the raw deal in this."

She shook her head. "This is some sort of sick joke. And what the hell do you mean sacrifice…"

Zaku felt the grip around his neck loosen, and with a kick to Kabutos groin freed himself with a gasp. "Come on Kin, run!" And grabbing his partners arm, made their way out of the hospital leaving Kabuto to weep to himself muttering "Damn you…."

Once outside, Kin hit Zaku with her hardest question; "Zaku, what exactly happened in there a few moments ago?"

He was quiet for a while. "Kin… Orochimaru planned all along for our whole team to become sacrifices. We were the weakest of them all, so he decided to make the best of his trash to fuel some sort of forbidden jutsu for when he fought this village's leader. I found out when I read Dosus diary a day or so before he was on the bad end of Garra's five second fatality. It told of a weird suspicion of his, but I thought he was always paranoid, that we were to be used to summon this villages past hokages to fight against the current one if things didn't go Orochimaru's way. Kabuto proved it right."

Kin was speechless. She couldn't believe Orochimaru would do such a thing, not him! Tears slowly swelled up in her eyes as her mind tried to take in the fact, but the reality of it all came back as the sound of crashing walls and homes erupted as the summoned giant three-headed snake appeared to help with the Leafs destruction.

"Then what do we do now?" She asked, felling frightened for once in so many years.

Zaku grinned. "We take out another one of Orochimaru's assets in this fight; the sand brat Gaara. He needs to be repaid for Dosu and it would send a big 'F.U.' to our previous leader. It shouldn't be that hard, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"

…Outside of Konoha…

Zetsu sat in the forest with a look of shock on his black and white face. After three months of surveillance just waiting for the right time to tell the rest of the team it was a good time to attack and capture Itachi and the demon brat, the last thing he expected was a full out war in the middle of the village.

"Crap. Now we have to tell the rest of the Akatsuki to postpone the whole thing." His black half scoffed at the idea.

"**Please. The whole place is in chaos, now's the best time to go in! The others have their own fun all the time, now it's our turn. And even if we can't bring out the Uchiha, we can still at least have a fight or two**."

The white side thought for a moment, but before he could say his answer, Itachi appeared before Zetsu and sucked him into the Tsukuyomi world in order to give a complete resignation of his membership to the Akatsuki, which meant full out torture and a warning to never look for Naruto and himself again.

Afterward, when Zetsu finally came around, he was tied and left at the organizations doorstep.

…In the forest of Death…

Sasuke, along with Sakura, Shikamaru, and Ino, perused Garra who began to transform into the form of a hideous creature that laid inside him.

Throughout, they encountered Sound nin, slowly picking off their numbers in an attempt to stall the children until Sasuke remained.

"Sasuke…Uchiha!" Garra bellowed. "You..HARMED ME… I will…Make you PAY."

Sasuke didn't even bother with a retort. He pulled out a few Kunai and tossed them for it to be blocked by Garra's transformed arm and sent back. Sasuke dodged and tried to give another attack, but it was obvious that Garra was forgetting about their battle, instead he talked to himself.

"Mother…I need you…I been a good boy, so very good… I need you…"

Sasuke just stood against a tree, with fatigue setting in after plenty of battles and trying to survive in-between.

'At the rate this is going, this psycho will kill me. The only option now is to get enough energy for one last Chidori and end it all here…' He looked at Garra, trying to build up energy but stopped half way through, because Garra gave out his final transformation.

While he was muttering about his "mother," sand was gathering all around. And a few thousand tons began to pile up on him all at once…

…Meanwhile…

Naruto tried to fight his way to the Hokage as he and Orochimaru fought, the light barrier long arouse around them. The masked boy used all his tricks to try to force his way through, but there was too much fighting to pass, like that of an all out war packed into that one stadium.

Naruto couldn't really move. Every turn had someone with a kunai or attack that was to kill another crossed his path, forcing him to defend, making him fell claustrophobic. He simply couldn't take it.

'**You know**,' Mused the Kyuubi with a grin, '**There's one way to clear out this whole area, or at least stop the fighting for a moment. The question is, are you ready to give the shock?**'

Naruto knew what the fox meant. It was to release the demonic energy, scare people to stop, and help the Hokage who was still the father Naruto never had. And at the risk of everyone hating him again? To relive being the child that they tortured? Despite his power, the very thought made him feel very much like the helpless child of before.

Yet Sarutobi, the Hokage, needed help.

'**Well, are you going to do it?**'

'I'll do it. Maybe it would drive the sound out. Or force me to kill everyone in self defense.'

'**Whatever. I just want to flex my power, and see if it reminds them of what terror really is.**'

Naruto started to concentrate on the strength deep within his stomach, feeling the demons power course though his veins and beyond, feeling the power burning his flesh a bit as a huge flair of energy surrounded his body, violently throwing everyone within fifteen feet away.

The pure power that surged from Naruto lifted loose rocks and his cloak, while he tore off his gas mask.

"People of Konoha!" Naruto roared as feral features formed on his face, "Your demon fox has returned!"

…Meanwhile with Zaku and Kin…

The two ex-sound ninja ran though the forest until they caught a trail of battles that screamed 'A pissed Garra was here.'

"Zaku, I'm starting to have second thoughts." Kin muttered. "Orochimaru said he was one of his strongest weapons ever. He's possibly stronger than Orochimaru himself. He killed Dosu! In five seconds! How can we beat that?"

"Oh Kin. Oh so simple Kin. Dosu was caught off guard. Orochimaru wanted to hype us up that this single kid has some sort of 'ungodly' super powers and his vision of a better future once we get rid of this village is nothing but a load of garbage. I bet that Garra is really a wimp who hides behind a stuffed bear because he heard the wind outside his house! I mean come on-." And a pile of sand toppled over Zaku.

Kin's eyes followed the trail of sand to see it was only the very tip of a tail to some sort of gigantic raccoon at the top to barley be made out was a limp Garra and the Uchiha flipping around clearly being nothing more but a fly to the monstrosity.

Pulling Zaku from underneath, Kin gave a sarcastic "Yep. A real wimp. I mean 'what could possibly go wrong?'"

He just glared. "Shut up."

…

Sasuke tried to find a hole in the creature's defenses but everything he tried was in vain, especially when he got swatted by a lazy backhand. With heavy breaths, he tried to run, but was grabbed by the demon.

"Ya know kid," The creature spoke clearly; "I could kill you just by squeezing my fingers, but that fight was just pathetic. So much, killing would do you good. So you better just run home or-."

And in a flash, the creature howled in pain. "OWW, my EYE. Oh god my eye. Who just stabbed me?" A kunai was clearly visible and in the pain and confusion, the sand demon dropped Sasuke who fell onto a tree limb.

"What happened?"

And from beside him a long haired girl screamed out "Not so tough now are ya?!" as another ninja flew up and stabbed the eye again ("AGAIN WITH THE GODDAMN EYE!!!").

Sasuke was puzzled as he looked at his two unlikely allies. "…Alright, I'll bite. Why are you helping me?"

Kin chuckled as they dodged an arm that came crashing down from above them. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm only doing this as payback."

As the Uchiha landed somewhere else, he muttered. "Risking your life against a monster for revenge? Makes perfect sense to me." He finished with a chuckle.

…

Naruto stood in the middle of the crowd, a torrent of energy amongst the men who felt like ants in his presences. It took a while, but finally one sound nin said: "Wait…Is that the demon brat-(BAM)-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAaaAaaaaaaa…."As Naruto punched the guy into the sky.

Needless to say, this had a big impact upon everyone.

"The monster is back!"

"He's going to wreck his unholy vengeance upon us!"

"Don't hurt me! Take my neighbor! He's a douche!"

"Game over man, game over!" And most of the ninjas scrambled to leave the stadium.

Naruto rubbed his temples in exasperation. 'I can't believe I was afraid of these people.' However, that didn't mean that there wasn't a few who thought they could make a difference and take on Naruto. One of them was a leaf nin with long silver hair with his headband as an eye patch attack from behind screaming "Lightning blade!"

Naruto turned in time grabbing the man's outstretched hand and pinned him against a nearby wall. "For the record, you may not want to shout 'I'm attacking behind you' in the future."

"What do you care." He muttered with his face against the wall. "I remember you. Just little kid, and I never thought you were, or would ever become, a monster."

"Then why didn't you ever do anything?" Naruto hissed. "Anyways, I'm not here for revenge. As stupid as it seems, I was looking for a second chance. I realize now how much I outgrown this whole village and their petty hate, but the man I ever thought of as a father is probably fighting for his life right now and I don't feel like wasting my time with every-."

"Naruto…I believe you. I feel guilty for letting what happen to happen. There are plenty of others who are the same, and we never expected that things would escalate like it did. I'm…sorry. I really am."

"…Who are you?"

"Kakashi Hatake."

"Then do me a favor. Stay out of my way or help me, if you can."

Naruto let go of Kakashi and made his way to the energy cube that held Orochimaru and the Hokage. As for the leaf ninja, he knew that this news had to spread and to make sure that _no one_ would bother the angered youth.

…

Zaku, Kin, and Sasuke dodged and weaved around the monster as he launched sand and blasts of air. Kin ran behind the creature and caught up with her partner and asked exhaustedly "Alright Zaku. We managed to get it angry enough to have it kill its own _mother_ in blind rage. Now what?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

"WHAT?!"

"What did you expect, were fighting a demon and I was in the moment. Plus I thought there would be an obvious target we could hit to destroy it, or have another plan on the fly."

"I swear if that thing doesn't kill you first…"

However, she couldn't finish that thought as another limb came crashing down, and the creature finally wore out both the sound girl and Uchiha and had it in its grasp.

"I AM GOING TO HAVE SUCH FUN KILLING YOU BRATS!" The creature roared as he tightened his grip. "NOW WHERES THE OTHER?"

…

Zaku stood at the top of a tree as he watched the creature yell at his captives. "Damn I should have thought this out better. Now there has to be some weak spot…" And he saw Garra's limp form at the head.

'Wait a second… That Garra punk…' He blinked a few seconds before a voice popped into his head.

'_Hey, I'm Garra. I'm all limp, and you're not. I'm so cool; I can kick all your asses __in my sleep._ _That's because you're not me. Garra. What are you looking at BOY? You think you can take me on. Right punk? RIGHT?'_

"Grrrrrrrr…"

…

"WHERE IS HE?!"

"Really?" Gasped Sasuke. Things were going south fast, and when all hope was lost….

Zaku shot out of the forest using his wind cutter technique to rocket himself through the air.

"Damn it Garra, STOP MOCKING ME!!!" and he head butted the unconscious Garra awake. Just like that, the creature fell apart and the four kids fell, only having the trees underneath to break their fall.

…

Naruto stood before the cube, helplessly watching the two inside fight. No matter what he tried to do, nothing could penetrate the shield.

'_**Come on,**_' The fox nudged on, '_**there must be some way to break this thing**._'

Naruto could agree, but using a constant flow of chakra was taking its toll on the boy as fatigue set in.

'Fox, I tried all my tricks. All we get is my shadows to disappear, and your power to be dispelled. There isn't anything physical, or large enough to break this thing.'

'_**Brat. Turn your head**._'

Naruto did and he saw a mammoth sized three-headed snake terrorizing the town, and he grinned.

…Inside the Cube…

The Hokage and Orochimaru had reached a stalemate. A sword was plunged through the Hokage right below the lungs, barley missing the heart while the demon of death reached through his body slowly ripping out Orochimaru's soul.

"Orochimaru, I swear as long as I draw breath, I will defeat you."

"Empty words for a senile…old…man?" Orochimaru looked outside and the Hokages eyes followed to see the snake flying right towards them, and they couldn't even move out of the way.

…

Naruto quickly followed as the monstrosity crashed through the barrier and vanish in a massive puff of smoke. 'I still can't believe it worked.'

'_**Especially saying you just could of just busted up through the ceiling of the building to get to them**._'

'Wait, I could of what?'

Naruto finally landed in the middle of the battlefield as the smoke cleared, and he saw the Hokage and Orochimaru still in the middle of their struggle, however now the sound four elites by their masters side (since the barrier was broken through and none of them had the time or energy to make a new one) each was ready to defend him from the demon boy. However, they didn't need to.

The Hokage gasped for breath as exhaustion sat in. Even Orochimaru was starting to lose it as his soul slowly slid out ever slightly.

The Hokage gasped as he fought to draw breath; "My student, I know I may not be able to defeat you here and now, but I can take away one of the few things you love most. Your arms, so you may never use another jutsu again." With a swift cut of the hand, the Demon that he summoned did the same over the bit of soul it grabbed and vanished.

For a moment, no one knew what the point was. Then Orochimaru's arms throbbed clearly to those who saw as he screamed bloody murder. "Get me out of here!" He shouted to his elites.

They all gathered up and all the sound swiftly retreated, but the Leaf nin and Naruto tried to stop Orochimaru.

"You bastard!" Shouted the boy, who tried to use his powers to stop or kill the fiend but ultimately couldn't. He was now completely out of energy, so he turned his attention to the 3rd Hokage who was still standing up as eerily like a statue. Naruto slowly approached him with fear he was far too late in his attempt at a rescue. "Hokage…Old man, are you all right?" These few words seemed to snap Sarutobi into reality (at a price), as Naruto had to catch him as he collapsed…


	19. The End is a New Beginning

The real final chapter. Look out for the next story: To Kill a Snake (direct continuation) or The Marvelous Misadventures of Sasuke (spin off), whatever comes first. Thanks for reading, and hopefully this ending isn't a (major) disappointment.

Itachi: YES! LET'S END IT ALREADY! WOOT!!!!

... Thanks for the support Itachi.

Itachi: SORRY, CAN'T HEAR OVER THE CHEERING!

There are two more storys in the main series ya' know.

Itachi: ...Well thanks for ruining my fun. But I will do the Sasuke fic, and it will be done right!

Whatever.

...

Ch. 17: The End is a New Beginning

The next day a funeral was held as the Hokage passed on after the battle for him to defend the village. Storms brewed overhead as Naruto stood at the side of a building as the funeral took place a few blocks away. Despite it being held for the open public, Naruto wouldn't get too close.

'It would fell strange being around all those people anyways, now that they know who I am.'

Looking for a place to go to get out of the rain that started to pour down, Naruto came across the two ex-sound ninja from the other day. He remembered them hobbling out of the forest with Sasuke and running off to hide as they still had the headbands that told of a now dead allegiance to Orochimaru. As for the moment, no one knew or cared that they were hiding in plain sight.

"So," Naruto started as he sat down next to them looking at Kin, "it looks like you found out the truth the hard way."

She barely nodded.

"I guess it might be too soon to ask what you are going to do now."

"It's not like we can stay here." She muttered, "And the sound village made a lot of enemies, if any of the other villages knew…."

"Well I know what I want to do." Butted in Zaku, "And that's to go to Orochimaru and kick his ass for playing us like chumps. And to think I saw him like family."

Naruto smirked. "Maybe we can help each other out here. I have my own vendetta against him, but let's wait before making anything final. A lot has happened; might as well think things through."

"Sounds as good as anything else. We have nowhere to go, no friends, no family, and no future. Might as well join up the kid that almost killed us before our own master; at least then I know to trust you less."

"Sure, but you never know. Today's enemy might be tomorrow's friend."

"As like today's friend could be tomorrow's backstabber. We can't trust you, but there's not much of a choice."

"Fair enough. Now excuse me…." Naruto finished getting up. With a slight nod to them, he headed off to the main gates after receiving a note from Itachi to meet him there. All the while his thoughts returned to the Hokage.

…

The Hokage laid in Naruto's arms as blood oozed out and a few ninjas called out for medics. The man had a thousand yard stare but still talked as if nothing happened for the moment.

"Naruto, I knew that you had returned. I can't say that I'm not surprised though. After what happened so long ago, I'm shocked you even remember me." And with a few coughs, more blood came out of his mouth.

Naruto himself was on the verge of tears seeing the old man like this. "Please, calm down. You need your strength for the medics."

He smiled and coughed a few more times. "I can't calm down. After what happened and you truly back… At least I don't have as much regret as I had when you left. I should of known, maybe I could have prevented it from happening…. Listen, I need to tell you something. Despite what everyone has said (cough), you were never a monster. Instead, you were meant to be a hero like your father."

"My father? What do you mean?"

"He was the 4th, and he gave his life to save this village and you while in turn the demon that attacked had to be sealed away…Inside you. And for everything else that happened…I'm sorry. I can't do anything now but I hope…you forgive…me…."

And just like that, he died just as the medics arrived.

…

'A hero. What a joke. If I was, then I wouldn't have been treated like filth, I would have had as much respect as my supposed father, and none of this would of happened.'

'_You can't change the past, including events you couldn't control to begin with. However, I must know. When you said you would "take revenge" against that snake, will you actually do it or am I going to be disappointed again?_'

'I had trouble with attacking the village because some people I knew here were my friends. Orochimaru however is a coward who cut my last true tie here, and all my mercy is used up. If I see him, I will use everything in my power to kill him and anyone else who gets in my way.'

'_We'll see._'

Naruto finally walked outside of the town to see Itachi waiting with a slight grin. "Hey."

"Itachi…."

"What, no Nii-san?"

"…No. Not after what happened back at the Akatsuki, but I guess you knew I was here and you never stopped me so I guess that counts for something."

Itachi's grin disappeared. "I guess it was because that you heard Pien's plan. I wanted to do it at first, but I grew soft. You became a real brother."

"Wow, you have gotten soft. So what are you going to do now that you're here?"

"I'm planning to take Sasuke along to go see the world, hopefully get a family bond back, learn what I was missing."

"What about-."

"I'm done with the Akatsuki. In fact, I just sent in my notice yesterday. What about you, care to come along?"

"No, I would just be a third wheel between a real family. Besides, I got some things to take care of myself."

"Well I'm sure it won't matter. Anyways, here comes Sasuke."

"I just can't believe you got managed to reach out to him. When I first met him, all he said was destroying you and avenging his clan."

"Well the truth had much more shock and seemed impossible, which could only make it true. So, I guess this is goodbye. Hopefully we meet again Naruto."

Naruto nodded, giving a little smile. Soon Sasuke walked up confused and tired, but didn't give out his infamous glares. "Let's get this over with."

"You see that's one of the things were going to have to work on; the immense joy that constantly irradiates from your shining persona. Now come on, times-a-wasting."

And as the two walked and argued, Naruto smiled. Maybe this is the turning point of his life, but things still had to be done and judgement must be made. One thing was certain however, as today he hopes the past will fade away, and old grievances will die, that this marks the dawn of a new beginning.


End file.
